How I’m Preparing For My Week Away And Organising A Management Transition

Morning all,

Here’s the time again today, 

And I wanted to run through what the plan is for my ‘week away’ from the day job.

First of all – 

Part of this week away is going to be managing the fact that I’m not allowed to talk to any of my team for the entire week.

To be clear though – this is the team as it relates to Pearl Lemon and Pearl Lemon Leads and Pearl Lemon PR.

The other sides of the business I’m going to be working upon to grow.

But let’s set up some rules of engagement when it comes to the team and how I plan to be ‘absent.

I’m going to practice archiving the conversations that are to do with the day job.

I’ve actually already begun doing this with some of the following messages:

This is for the cold calling leadership team so the goals/expectations are clear –

I’m doing the same for the internal sales team:

• So a combination of archiving groups – and making sure I don’t look at them during the day is going to be critical.
• Checking my business WhatsApp just 3x per day is also going to be important – for emergencies, I’ll tell people to contact me on my personal WhatsApp for which I’ll give a couple of team members the number
• Having Lydia check my emails and then come in when anyone asks me questions specifically – Lydia can respond saying ‘Deepak’s away atm but let me come in and respond’ 

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I think taking these steps will all be fundamental when it comes to ensuring that the transition goes smoothly and that I can truly be away and see what happens with the business.

I’ve also got a Friday team meeting where I’ll give everyone something of a speech about myself being away and seeing what people are capable of and them holding themselves to a higher standard.

What I may do is switch the relevant people that I need to keep communicating with onto Telegram so that I’m not even tempted to check Whatsapp For Business.

This could be a fantastic way of separating it out. Yes, I think I’ll do this.

My goals for my time away are as follows:

1. No-one quits
2. Every client is happy
3. We deliver upon our requirements 
4. The team function just as that – a team and not as individuals
5. To understand all of the problems with the company and what needs significantly more work
6. To see if we can actually grow in my absence.

You may have seen my other blog in how I’m preparing for this transition – and now as I’m getting closer to it – I’m getting more and more nervous.

It also felt surreal yesterday – because for the first time for some portion of the day – I genuinely didn’t know what to do with myself – which was such a strange feeling.

But also as Valentina my business coach mentioned – 

• It’s strange that I’m still involved with clients
• Most stable companies will take on clients and the client will never meet the founder of the business

This is what I’m working towards and hopeful that next week will help move us aggressively forward in that direction

Now to make reference to my buddy Kent Lewis over at Anvil Media – 

Most companies discuss the concept of having a business owner that can step away but in practice, it never truly happens.

And that I’m actually trying now to really make this happen – which…well is something I’m proud of for even trying.

I’m determined to make this week and make the agency function (and ultimately grow) without my involvement.

Let’s do another blog around that in fact – ‘growth’ without me being involved 🙂