One of the common sources of most frustration in business is separating ownership from operational responsibility. When the two become tangled it can create confusion.
To give you an example, a business owner was recently sharing his frustrations about his business….where it was headed, where it was not headed and the heavy tax it was putting on himself and his family.
We got to talking about his organisational structure and he showed me two dozen or so boxes ranging from sales to marketing, operations, accounts etc – all with different names in them.
I then asked him who makes the actual decisions in all of these boxes. His response, “I do”.
So the ‘real’ structure should have had his name in every box.
I then asked why. His response, “I’m the owner”.
And there it is…
Too often business owners keep confusing their role as an employee in the business with the fact they are the owner.
When you invest money in BHP, does that give you a role as an employee? No, the financial investment and the operational responsibility are two different things, oil and water.
Most Businesses are not BHP but successful businesses (of all sizes) apply the same principals.
Does your organisational structure treat you like an employee or an owner?
Look out for the next blog which will explore why we confuse the two and how to start untangling them.