In your business, does everyone always come to you… For the big decisions, when there are problems that need to be solved. If so, that is not a compliment. It is a warning sign.

And I will tell you why in this video.

The Illusion of Importance

Some business owners are very, very proud of the fact that they are the ones who make all of the important decisions. They insist that things get deferred to them because they know best. They understand things that the rest of the team doesn’t understand.

But I’m here to tell you that that is a serious growth constraint.

You Are Not Scalable

If you, as the owner, sit at the heart of all decisions that need to be made in your business, then your business is, at some point, going to hit a ceiling. Because you will run out of bandwidth. You will run out of time. This is why systems are important to run a business

The key thing here for you to understand is that because you are not scalable, you need to create the conditions for:

• Others to be able to decide
• Others to be able to get on with things

Because you need the bandwidth to be able to focus on the things you should be focusing on.

Decision Fatigue and Bottlenecks

If you’re making loads of decisions for other people when they are perfectly capable of making those decisions themselves, you will suffer from decision fatigue. And at some point, you will start to bottleneck. Business owners are the biggest bottlenecks in their business, and this tends to be for two very important reasons.

Reason 1: You’re a Control Freak

Most of you are a bunch of control freaks. And I understand that. I’m a business owner myself.

One of the reasons why I am in business for myself is that I want to do things the way that I want to do them. Now, while that is helpful in getting you started and helpful in driving things forward, it becomes a constraint when you feel like you have to control everything around you.

You weren’t born with the ability to do all the different things you can do.

You had to:

• Learn
• Make mistakes
• Experience different situations
• Step outside of your comfort zone
• Mess up

By taking control of every single little thing, we prevent our teams from benefiting of all those experiences.

We stop them from stepping out of their comfort zone, elevating themselves, and owning their own decisions.

Reason 2: No Clear Decision-Making Framework

The second reason why business owners tend to be the bottlenecks is that there is often no clear decision-making framework in the business.

What is a Decision-Making Framework?

It’s something that is written down — a simple guide that helps everyone understand:

• Where they have the autonomy to make decisions freely
• Where they need to inform someone (like you)
• They must get approval before making a decision

It’s relatively simple to put together, but extremely effective.

When everyone understands and uses it, you free up decision-making.
People stop coming to you for everything.

Step Out of Your Comfort Zone

This is especially powerful for small businesses — and especially if you are that control freak who wants their fingers in every pie.

It’s a great exercise to help you:

• Get comfortable with what others can decide on their own
• Identify which decisions need your awareness
• Understand which ones truly require your approval

The Cost of Being the Bottleneck

When you bottleneck decisions:

• Your team takes much longer to grow and develop
• Your business moves slower than you’d like
• You put a ceiling on your growth

You end up with a desk full of other people’s work, stopping them from progressing independently.

A-Players Want Autonomy

The really good team members out there — the A-players — they want autonomy.
They want to get on with things they are capable of doing. If you stop them, best-case scenario: They become B-players. Worst-case scenario: They go and find somewhere else to work.

Grow Yourself to Grow Your Business

If you want your business to grow and prosper, you need to grow and prosper. There’s a great book called The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership by John Maxwell. One of those laws is called The Law of the Lid.

The Law of the Lid

Your leadership ability is the lid on your personal effectiveness. So, if your leadership ability is 7 out of 10, you can’t be more effective than 7 out of 10. If you are bottlenecking decisions and sitting at a 6 or 7 out of 10, your business will hit a lid at some point.

Don’t Be the Bottleneck

You are the greatest risk to your business growing and scaling, whether you realise it or not.
Don’t be the bottleneck.

Here’s a Challenge for You

If this resonates with you, here’s a challenge:

Choose one decision this week that you know you need to delegate to someone else.

Take the risk.
Hand it over.

You never know — your team might just surprise you.

See You Next Time on Mind Your Own Business

Uh — just before you go, quick favour if you don’t mind… If you enjoy these videos and they’ve helped you in your business, please subscribe to this channel. It would mean a lot to me because it’ll help me spread the word and get in front of more business owners. So go on —
Do it now.