Can Your Business Survive Without You?

Steven had an itch on his back for a couple of weeks. At first, he thought it was just a bug or spider bite… nothing unusual since he works in the fields most days. He figured it must have been quite a bite because after two weeks, the discomfort hadn’t subsided. He asked his wife to look and see what kind of bite it was. His wife saw nothing, but the flesh beneath the skin was rock hard.

A trip to the doctor confirmed Steven’s worst fear: he had a tumor on his back. After a series of tests, he was scheduled for 3 weeks of radiation treatment. His oncologist warned that the side effects would be cumulative. For the first week, Steven would probably have 80% of his usual energy. But his energy would decline rapidly. He’d probably be in bed for as long as two weeks after the treatment ended. He received the news in April. The timing couldn’t have been worse. He was just ramping up for the summer season.

Steven is a seasoned farmer. For 20 years, he has cultivated a reputation for growing the most flavorful vegetables not readily available to mass markets. He sells to high-end restaurants exclusively; the chefs cherish the niche products that their diners can’t find anywhere else.

For all his experience farming, he hasn’t really had to “manage.” His field crew consists of two workers: Mark, who has been working with Steven for the last 7 years, and Andrew, who just graduated from an agricultural high school. The three of them work side by side, with Steven providing constant direction.

As Steven prepared for his radiation treatment, he sat down with Mark and Andrew. He laid out a detailed list of tasks that would need to be completed each week to ensure the crops were in the ground (or ready to go into the ground) by the time Steven was back in action.

Steven’s story (which, unfortunately, is true, though details have been changed to protect privacy) reminded me of two important business lessons. The first, I talk about often. The second, we need to talk about more.

The first: when you calculate production costs, take into account your own labor. Whether or not you pay yourself, you need to account for your time. Heaven forbid, if you break a leg, you will need to pay someone else to do the work… and you want to make sure that labor is accounted for. On a cheerier note: if your business grows and you need to hire more staff, you want to make sure you’ve already factored your production time into your pricing structure.

If you break your leg, or grow your business, you’re still there. Even if you don’t physically do the work, you can supervise and instruct.

But Steven’s situation brought up a second concern…. Can your business survive without you? Steven needed to completely check out of his business for 2 months, and at a crucial time in the season. He relied on his crew to manage the fields, communicate with his customers; and manage vendors to ensure the farm had all the supplies it needed to get through the season.

No one wants to think about worst case scenarios like cancer. But it’s an important part of business planning.

What systems do you need in place to ensure your business can survive without you? Whatever detail you keep in your head, is a detail that no one can take over for you. Some examples of information you want available to your staff:

1. Your crop plans written out in a way that others can find them and read them.
2. The vendor list with names and phone numbers. Note what products you get from which vendors.
3. A customer list with contact information.
4. A standard operating procedure (SOP) manual for how to pack CSA shares. The Lean Farm has excellent tips on creating SOPs.

Steven did not have these plans written out. Mark was texting and calling every day trying to get important details to manage the farm. Some days, Steven responded quickly. But other days he was so exhausted, he couldn’t muster the energy to answer the phone much less provide crucial information. When Steven finally returned to his business; the crops were weeks behind schedule.

Delegating is hard!

As a friend and advisor, it deeply pained me to see Steven struggle. Before this, I could see the challenges farmers faced with labor management and delegation, but I hadn’t recognized how this could bankrupt a business. If the business can’t survive without the owner, then it can’t survive.

A single bad season can have dire consequences.

Entrepreneurs shy away from delegating for a variety of reasons:

• They think it will take longer to explain the task rather than just do it themselves.
• They want to protect their knowledge and intellectual property.
• They enjoy the work, and don’t want to offload them.
• They feel guilty about adding more work (especially the menial tasks) to their employees already long to-do list.
• They feel they will do the task better than anyone else.

But if you want to grow your business, you need to hire people and you need to be able to delegate and manage.

Creating systems to better delegate takes time. And it can’t be done in 3 days before going on vacation or taking medical leave. Creating the systems now, ensures that when a crisis comes, you will be prepared.

Here are 5 steps to get you started in more effective delegation:

1. Decide what to delegate. It helps to create a list of your regular tasks, and note how much time you spend on them each week.
2. Assess yours and your teams’ strengths to help you decide what tasks you should hold onto and what you can delegate.
3. Decide to whom who will delegate, playing to each person’s strengths and growth potential.
4. Cleary define expectations of how the tasks will be completed and what success will look like.
5. Create feedback loops: While your team take on new roles and responsibilities, they may work more slowly and cautiously, so it helps to stay present to support them, provide feedback and answer questions as needed. A good feedback loop also helps to ensure the processes and systems are properly set up.

Do you have tips on effective delegation? Leave a comment below.

Steven is slowly recovering from his radiation treatments. He survived the summer/peak season, though it was a struggle. Thankfully, he has a loyal and supportive community of friends and customers… so this year’s challenges won’t impact the business’s long-term viability. He will return to his oncologist in January for more tests and to determine the next phase of treatment. We continue to pray for his health and wellbeing.