How to turn your employees into entrepreneurs

Posted on by michael nitschke
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I recently went through burnout, without even realising how bad it was.
I talk about it here, where I had an epiphany about how stressed I really was. I was in a constant state of doing, without stopping to pay attention to how I was being… and my team suffered as a result.
I was doing what I thought was best for the business:

  • Focusing on performance and outcomes above all
  • Prioritising problems myself and not giving time to the team to discuss issues they raised
  • Trying to solve their problems for them, instead of coaching them to find solution themselves.

From a revenue standpoint, the business was doing better than ever. But under the hood, we were all struggling.

I was burned out and my team felt unconnected. There was no sense of psychological safety, which meant team members were just following orders, instead of truly leading in and owning their roles.

To turn employees into entrepreneurs (or intrapreneurs), I realise I needed to stop doing and start being… being more of a coach than just another active team member who is also the CEO. It’s the next tier in my evolution from salesperson to CEO, and a good reminder to not fall victim to doing mode when internal shifts are occurring.

This means holding my ground and not jumping into selling when we lose a valuable team member. It means having enough mental bandwidth and creative capacity to make tough decisions and remain agile. It means trusting my team completely and continuing to coach them through all changes and conditions.
It means stepping back but not checking out. It means making decisions as a team, not from the top down. It’s not pushing a vision on a team, but rather, embodying and nurturing a shared mission that becomes our reason for being. Our competitive advantage. Our truth.

Everyone knows their place and there’s no uncertainty, with roles as clear as a pro sports team. Each player and position as important as the next.

This is how you build a truly resilient team, culture, and company.
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