I am the Visionary and sole owner of our business. We hired an Integrator six months ago to run our day-to-day operations as we prepare for a clean exit, but I find myself constantly overriding her decisions and stepping into operational issues. This is confusing my leadership team and stalling our progress. How do we structurally enforce the boundaries of our respective seats?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

You are suffering from a classic owner dilemma, and your behavior is actively devaluing your company. If a prospective buyer sees you overriding your Integrator, they will immediately discount your purchase price because they will realize the business cannot function without your constant intervention.

To fix this, you must return to your Charter, specifically the Same Page and Trust pillars. You and your Integrator must maintain an absolute united front in front of the leadership team.

First, clearly define the five roles of your Visionary seat on the Accountability Chart. Typically, these are big ideas, culture, key relationships, and research and development. Next, look at the Integrator seat, which owns running the day-to-day business, executing the V/TO®, and holding the leadership team accountable.

Once these boundaries are drawn, you must respect them. If a team member brings an operational issue to you, you must stop answering them. Your immediate response must be to redirect them to the Integrator. If you solve it for them, you undermine your Integrator and train your team to ignore the Accountability Chart.

Second, establish a strict weekly Same Page Meeting with your Integrator. This is where you resolve your differences, align on strategy, and get on the same page privately. If you disagree with an operational decision your Integrator made, you bring it to this meeting, use the IDS® process, and resolve it behind closed doors. Once you step out of that room, you must support her decisions 100%. If you cannot do this, you are the wrong person for the Visionary seat.