Has this ever happened to you? You’ve hired a good team, and you feel excited about what lies ahead. Yet despite hiring talented people, you find yourself buried in questions, fixing mistakes and feeling like you’re the only one holding things together. It’s exhausting. What went wrong?
The problem isn’t your team’s talent. It’s a lack of clarity. “A players” want to step up.
What they need is the confidence, context and tools to make the right decisions without constant oversight. Through our work with thousands of small-business teams across the country over the last 20 years, we’ve discovered a powerful path forward: Provide your team with clear decision-making parameters, align them with your business’ “sweet spot” and support them through intentional one-on-one coaching.
The sweet spot is the intersection of your top clients, your unique strengths and what drives profitability. When team members understand this framework, they can filter their daily work through a lens of strategic impact. Instead of staying busy, they start driving results.
We see this transformation happen regularly in our Leadership Bootcamp. Business owners send their top performers through the program, and within weeks team members start thinking like owners. They ask more thoughtful questions, make confident recommendations and keep the business moving forward — even when the owner steps away.
One game-changing habit we teach is the practice of holding consistent one-on-one meetings. These aren’t quick status updates. These are focused conversations that create a safe space for reflection, problem-solving and innovation. Over time, your team gains the clarity and trust they need to take ownership of their work. When that happens, everything changes.
Melissa’s journey at Tap the Potential is proof. After completing Leadership Bootcamp, she envisioned a new way to structure our client experience — tiered programs based on business milestones. With support and trust, she ran with the idea. It transformed our results, energized our clients and enabled Sabrina to step out of day-to-day operations — even taking a seven-week vacation. At the same time, the business continued to run smoothly.
That’s the power of a team aligned with your mission, trained to think strategically, and supported through strong leadership systems. You move from being the bottleneck to being the visionary. Your business becomes stronger, more profitable and more sustainable — without you having to carry the whole load.
Build a business that gives you your life back, while empowering your team to shine.
This article originally appeared in Arkansas Business and is part of a series of small business commentaries by Sabrina Starling, Ph.D., PCC, BCC, the international bestselling author of “How to Hire the Best” and “The 4 Week Vacation,” TEDx speaker and founder of tapthepotential.com. Melissa Kay is the lead strategist at Tap the Potential and hosts the top-ranking “Profit by Design” podcast with Starling.
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