Could You Disappear for a Month?
Hello and welcome to Episode 344 of The People Powered Business Podcast.
If you walked away from your business tomorrow for a whole month, with no phone, no email and no checking in, what would you come back to? For a lot of business owners with a solid team, the honest answer is "a mess", or "I'd never even try". You've hired good people, you've got roles and an org chart, and yet the business still leans on you for almost everything.
Here's the thing: hiring a team doesn't automatically give you freedom from your business. Freedom is one of my own values, and it's what I want for every business owner I work with. But so often we build teams and structures that still depend on us completely. Most of us have had the week-long break where we work flat out beforehand to get ready, the team hangs on until we're back, and we return to a pile of questions, decisions and unfinished work. The business didn't run without us that week. It just waited. That's why a month is the real test. It's long enough that client problems, resignations and big proposals can't sit there until you get back.
In this episode I walk you through a simple test you can run today, without booking anything. Picture your first week away and write down who would contact you, what about, and why you'd need to be involved. Then add everything that would sit in the "wait till you're back" pile. I guarantee the list will be longer than you expect, and that's okay. This isn't about judging yourself.
Then I show you how to read that list. Look for patterns rather than individual tasks, and you'll usually find three:
- things only you can decide, because the structure doesn't let anyone else decide them
- things your team could do but don't, because they know you'll swoop in
- things you can't put anyone's name next to, because there's a genuine skills gap on your team
Only some of that is a delegation issue. Handing over more tasks won't fix a structure problem, a leadership habit or a team gap, and that's where the real work starts.
I'd love to hear what comes up for you when you run this. Is it the length of the list, a gap you hadn't noticed, or how many decisions still land on your desk? Email me and let me know, and tell me where you'll go for that first proper break.
In this episode we cover:
- Why a week off doesn't tell you whether your business can run without you, and why a month does
- A simple test to map who would contact you, what about, and what would be waiting when you got back
- How to spot the three patterns behind being the bottleneck: structure, leadership habits and team skills gaps
- Why delegating more tasks won't fix most of what's on your list
- What to fix first, before you run the test again over a month and book the break
Links & Resources:
💬 DM Kristy-Lee on Instagram @kristy.lee.billett
Connect with me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristyleebillett/
Email me at [email protected]
Book a 15-minute clarity call: https://calendly.com/kristyleebillett/chat
What this episode covers
Many small business owners with a team of 10 to 20 people still can't take a proper break without calls, emails and a backlog waiting for them. This episode gives business owners a practical test to find out how far they are from being able to step away for a month, and how to work out what's really keeping the business dependent on them.
Key insight from this episode
A business that gets through a week without its owner hasn't proven it can run without them. It has usually just waited. Most of what keeps an owner tied to the business isn't a delegation problem. It comes from unclear decision-making structure, leadership habits like stepping in when things go wrong, and genuine skills gaps on the team.
What you'll take away
- A simple test to see which people and decisions would still come to you during a break
- How to separate the tasks you can fully delegate from the issues delegation won't fix
- How to find structural gaps where no one else has the authority to make a decision
- How to recognise the leadership habits that teach your team to wait for you
- How to spot skills gaps by checking which responsibilities you can't put anyone's name next to
