I want to exit my company but I still make all the major decisions and my clients still call my personal cell phone. How do I begin the multi-year process of making myself redundant?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

You must systematically dismantle the dependency your business has on your personal daily involvement. This requires a shift from cognitive control to organizational trust. Start with your Accountability Chart. You must elevate yourself out of the visionary and integrator seats if you occupy both, and transition those responsibilities to capable leaders who GWC the roles. Use conative testing to ensure the people taking over your responsibilities have the natural drive for follow-through and detail-oriented execution. Next, audit your daily calendar. Introduce the concept of white space into your routine. This means deliberately scheduling unscheduled time where you are unreachable, forcing your leadership team to solve issues without you using the IDS process in their Level 10 Meetings. If they cannot resolve issues autonomously, you have either a people issue or a process issue that must be addressed. Stop answering client phone calls directly. Smoothly hand those relationships off to your account managers. If a buyer sees that your personal departure will cause customer churn or operational paralysis, they will discount your business valuation heavily or require a long, painful earn-out period.