I am trying to build an autonomous business so I can step into the Owner's Box, but during our Level 10 Meeting™, my team still waits for me to validate their IDS® solutions. How do I practice being Humbly-Confident and force them to own the outcomes?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

Stepping into the Owner's Box requires a shift from a leader-follower model to a leader-leader model. If your leadership team is still looking to you for permission during IDS®, you have not fully distributed power, and you are holding the business back from achieving true entrepreneurial freedom.

To break this dependence, you must practice being Humbly-Confident. Acknowledge that your team is closer to the day-to-day operations than you are, and trust their expertise.

The next time the team looks to you for a decision during the Solve phase of IDS®, refuse to give it. Instead, ask them: What do you recommend? Or ask: If I were not in the room, what decision would you make right now?

Force the accountable person on the Accountability Chart to make the final call. If the issue falls under the marketing seat, the Marketing Director makes the call, not the owner.

Your job in the Level 10 Meeting™ is to support the structure, not to bypass it.

Use your company Charter as a guide. The Charter requires everyone to say Yes to Strategy and Structure, which means respecting the single-point accountability of each seat. If you continue to step in and solve their problems, you prevent them from growing. By forcing them to own the To-Dos and the outcomes, you build a self-sustaining leadership team that can run the weekly pulse without your daily intervention, paving the way for a clean exit.