Working 'in' vs 'on' the business → and why great leaders do both
Are you working 'on' or 'in' your business? A great leader needs to be able to do both
The transition into a leadership role involves a switch in mindset from ‘delivering’ to ‘leading’. That means developing the ability to work ‘on’ as well as ‘in’ the business.
Working ‘on’ the business is taking a long-term strategic view while working ‘in’ the business is focused on day-to-day tasks and operations. In other words, ‘in’ is working for the business you are in today whereas ‘on’ is focusing on building what the business looks like in the future.
The concept is usually discussed in relation to entrepreneurs, but it is equally as important for leaders within a business to understand and implement this approach.
Working 'on' the business is a skill that you need to be a successful new leader.
In this post, we'll go through what working 'on' the business actually looks like and how you can balance both approaches to achieve the results you want.
Let's get into it 👇
This post covers:
The signs that you’re ‘in’ the business
Four ways to work 'on' the business
When to work 'in' the business
Recommended resources
TL;DR
🤹 Leaders need to be able to work 'in' as well as 'on' the business
📉 Too much time spent working 'in' the business results in short-term wins but long-term fails
🦄 Too much time spent working 'on' the business creates a lot of ideas but no real action
📅 Schedule time to work 'on' the business - and stick to it
📝 Define the 'in' activities where you add value and delegate the ones where you don't
The signs that you’re ‘in’ the business
How do you know when you're working 'in' vs 'on' the business? Here's the difference:
In short, when you are working completely ‘in’ the business you are often managing the day-to-day of the business or department well but lose sight of the bigger picture meaning that you frequently find yourself dealing with reactive and emerging issues that weren’t already on your radar.
Sound familiar? Keep reading 👇
Four ways to work ‘on’ the business
Great leaders ensure that they prioritise time and activities that allow them to work 'on' the business.
Here’s four ways that you can start working ‘on’ the business.
#1 Commit to meeting with yourself regularly
Commit to regularly spending time working 'on' the business. Treat this time like a review with a customer or a board meeting: You should schedule it in advance, ensure that you’re in a good frame of mind and it's not something you should cancel.
Whether it's solving a big issue, exploring a new opportunity or focusing on strategic planning, we all need time to focus to make the progress we need.
My two non-negotiables for this time with myself are:
Step away from your usual working environment. This gets you ‘out’ of the business (literally as well as figuratively) in order to work ‘on’ it. Ask yourself: Where do I do my best thinking? For me, getting outside for a walk or run is when I do my best problem-solving.
Turn off all notifications or anything that could be a distraction. This time is an opportunity for deep work and focus so distractions are going to hinder what you can achieve. If you need to and it allows you to switch your mindset, let your team know you won't be contactable.
Now that you have allocated the time, it can be difficult to know how to approach it - especially when it’s new or you don’t have a glaring problem to solve. I’ve provided a list of guiding questions below to help frame your time:
What is the #1 challenge in the team/department/business right now?
What is the #1 opportunity in the team/department/business right now?
What is stopping us from achieving our vision?
What is draining my energy or keeping me up at night?
How is my team doing? As a group and individually
Am I focusing on the most important things?
What can I do to improve?
At the end of this time, you should feel much clearer on your priorities and the direction or steps you need to take to move the business forward.
#2 Delegate to and develop your team
So, you’re ready to start implementing #1 but you’re wondering how you will find the time? As you transition from being the doer to the leader, there will be things that you can delegate or stop doing completely in order to free up your capacity to work ‘on’ the business.
Start by listing all the tasks that you currently do and identify which can be delegated and which are no longer adding value. If you are struggling to see which activities you can stop doing completely then run the list by your boss or discuss with your team for another perspective.
Once you have identified which items can be delegated, you can start sharing them out within your team. If there are some tasks that you need to but are unable to delegate, you will need to review your team’s capacity and/or provide them with the tools and knowledge they need to take on the activities.
Spending time developing your team to take on more ownership will empower them and free you up to focus ‘on’ the future of the department or company.
#3 Learn something new
Have you had a problem you've been struggling to solve or an opportunity you want to explore? Go and learn about it. Whether it's a course or conference, picking someone more experienced's brain, or listening to a podcast, a fresh perspective helps to get out of the business and find the inspiration that you need.
Here’s some ideas:
Read a book
Watch a TED Talk
Attend a webinar
Listen to a podcast
Go along to a talk or seminar
Reach out to someone more experienced
Google it (really)! Most of the time, someone else has had the same problem as you and has shared their experience
#4 Be outcome orientated
By focusing 'on' the business and understanding where you are going, it becomes much easier to figure out which activities 'in' the business are helping to get there and which are taking your and your teams attention away.
Learn to say no when something doesn't contribute to the direction of the business - I'll be doing a standalone post on this as it is a crucial skill to master.
When to work ‘in’ the business
Unless the entirety of your job is to focus on the vision of the company and generate new ideas, then you also need to switch back to working 'in' the business.
Depending on your specific role and the company, you could spend anywhere from 40-80% of your time working 'in' the business.
Value-adding activities that I consider as working 'in' the business include:
Team activities e.g. meetings, 1-1s
Team building and development
Leadership meetings
Day-to-day business/department management
Hiring and onboarding
Admin and reporting
Customer meetings
By taking the time to define your value-adding activities, you will be able to figure out how much capacity you have to work ‘on’ the business. Use your list from #2 as your starting point.
Recommended resources
Book: The E-Myth Revisited by Michael Gerber
Podcast: How to do Deep Work in 2024: Professor Cal Newport by The Life Lessons Podcast
Article: 5 Steps To Help You Delegate and Elevate by EOS Worldwide
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Coming up: In next week’s newsletter, we’ll be discussing why silence is a leader’s best friend.
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