Leadership
Leadership questions, answered.
Running a team and a life without becoming the bottleneck.
When should I stop doing the work myself?
The day a competent helper can do the work to 80 percent of your standard. Waiting for 100 percent is how owners stay stuck for ten years.
How do I delegate when no one does it as well as me?
Delegate the outcome, not the steps. Tell them what done looks like, then leave them alone for one full attempt.
How do I actually take a vacation from my business?
Pick the date now. Tell the team and the top ten customers four weeks out. Leave one person in charge, not three.
How do I manage a friend or former coworker?
Have one direct conversation: the relationship is changing. From now on, the work conversations are work conversations, full stop.
How do I give my employee tough feedback?
Soon. Specific. In private. About behavior, not personality. Then ask them what they heard.
How do I stop micromanaging my team?
Pick one thing this week you would normally check, and don't. See what happens. Repeat.
Should I take on a business partner?
Only if they bring something you can't (money, skill, customer base) and you have a written agreement covering divorce, death, and disagreement.
How do I handle owner burnout?
It's a signal, not a flaw. Something in the business is broken and you've been carrying it personally. Find which thing and fix it.
How do I make a tough business decision when I'm not sure?
Ask what you would do if you had to decide today, knowing what you know. That answer is almost always right. The delay is the cost.
Should I be friends with my employees?
Friendly, not friends. They need a boss who will tell them the truth more than they need a buddy.
How do I run a team meeting that isn't a waste of time?
Same time every week. 30 minutes max. Standing agenda: numbers, blockers, wins, decisions. Then back to work.
How do I do a performance review?
Have them quarterly, not annually. Three things: what's going well, what needs to change, what's next. Specific examples on each.
How do I set goals for my business for the year?
Three goals max, one number each, tied to actions you can actually do. 'Make more money' isn't a goal.
How do I handle a serious employee mistake?
Fix the customer first, then talk to the employee. Ask what happened, what they'd do differently, and how to prevent it. Don't fire over one honest mistake.
How do I keep my best employees from leaving?
Pay fairly, tell them they matter, and give them somewhere to grow. People don't quit jobs, they quit dead ends.
How do I stop second-guessing every decision I make?
Make the call, write down why you made it, and review it in 30 days. You'll learn faster and stress less than replaying it nightly.
How do I fire a customer who's abusive to my staff?
Tell them plainly you won't be able to help them going forward, and back it up by refusing to schedule them. No employee should have to take abuse to keep a customer on the books.
When should I stop doing residential work and go commercial?
When commercial accounts are already a meaningful share of revenue and asking for more, not as an escape from residential headaches. Commercial has its own brutal payment terms and expectations.
How do I set up an on-call rotation that doesn't burn out my team?
Rotate weekly among enough techs that no one is on call more than one week in three or four, pay a flat on-call stipend even for nights with no calls, and protect the day after an overnight call.
How do I get out of the truck/bay and actually start running the business instead of just working in it?
Replace yourself one skill at a time, starting with the task that's easiest to hand off, and protect a fixed block of office time on your calendar like it's a customer appointment. You won't get pulled out all at once, and trying to will just put you right back in the field within a week.
How do I set a real vacation policy for myself as the owner, not just whenever I can sneak away?
Put your own time off on the calendar for the year, in writing, the same way you'd schedule payroll, and treat moving it as the exception, not the norm. If you don't schedule it in advance, it will always lose to whatever feels urgent that week.
How do I decide whether to open a second location?
Open a second location only once your first one runs profitably without your daily presence, not because it's busy. A second location amplifies whatever systems and management you already have, good or bad, it doesn't fix a first location that's only working because you're always there.
How do I handle a serious disagreement with my business partner?
Separate the business decision from the relationship, get it in writing once you agree, and use your partnership agreement before you use your feelings. If you don't have a partnership agreement that covers this kind of dispute, fix that the moment things calm down, not after the next one.
How do I know if my business could actually survive a week without me?
Run the test for real, not hypothetically: leave for a genuine week with your phone off except for a true emergency line, and see what actually breaks. What breaks is your real to-do list, not a guess.