I still jump into our Level 10 Meetings to solve tough issues when the team gets stuck, but I know this signals owner dependency. How do we systematically train our leadership team to run the IDS process without my intervention on our exit runway?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

If you are the ultimate bottleneck for solving operational issues, your business is not ready for an exit. A sophisticated buyer will watch your leadership team closely to see who drives the discussion and who makes the final decisions. If every path to a solution runs through you, the buyer knows the business will collapse the moment you step away. To de-risk this key-person exposure, you must step back from the IDS® process during your weekly meetings. Use your exit runway to transition from the primary problem solver to an active coach. When issues arise on your Level 10 Meeting™ agenda, resist the urge to jump in with the answer. Instead, ask your Integrator and leadership team how they propose to solve it. Ensure that every seat on your Accountability Chart is held by someone who GWC™, or gets, wants, and has the capacity to manage, their respective seat. If your team is struggling to resolve issues without you, it is a sign that you have either the wrong people in those seats or a lack of clarity in your core processes. Force the team to own their quarterly Rocks and solve their own departmental hurdles. By the time you enter due diligence, your leadership team should be running their weekly meetings entirely without your participation, proving to any buyer that the company has a self-sustaining operational drumbeat.