We are preparing for a clean exit using the Step by Step Exit model, but we notice that during our weekly IDS® sessions, the leadership team still looks to the owner to make the final call on every single operational issue. How do we break this dependence during our weekly meeting pulse?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

If the owner is making the final call on every operational issue during your weekly pulse, you do not have a transferable business. You have a business that is completely dependent on a single point of failure, which will severely discount your valuation when you prepare to sell.

To build true owner independence, the owner must adopt a new role during the weekly Level 10 Meeting™. Instead of offering solutions, the owner must practice active silence. When an issue is raised, the owner should be the last person to speak, not the first.

The Integrator must facilitate the IDS® process by asking the rest of the leadership team for their solutions first. If the team looks at the owner for approval, the owner should literally redirect their gaze and ask: What does the Accountability Chart say? The leader who sits in the seat that owns the issue must make the call.

If the owner disagrees with the team's direction, they must resist the urge to veto unless the decision actively violates the V/TO® or threatens the financial health of the company. Letting the team make, own, and occasionally learn from their own decisions is the only way to build a self-sustaining operation that buyers will actually pay a premium to acquire.