3 Steps to Sitting in Your Best Seat (to Drive Growth and Joy)

I’ve coached a lot of firm leaders and executives to lead growth without feeling stuck in a daily grind that strains their personal life and work performance - and, ultimately, business results.?

If you want to know when growth finally gets easier...?

It wasn’t when they hired more people.? It wasn’t when they added a new service.? And it definitely wasn’t when they worked harder—they’re already grinding at full speed.?

Growth got easier when they finally got clear on their role in the firm and created leverage for everything else.??

These advisors and leaders spend years deep in the weeds—reviewing every financial plan, answering client emails, troubleshooting tech issues, stepping in to smooth out team dynamics. If something needs fixing, they fix it.? They prided himself on being the go-to person, the one who always had the answers.?

Sound familiar??

Most advisors I coach have built their firms by being the one who figures everything out. But here’s the hard truth: if everything still depends on you, growth will always feel like a grind.?

They got clear that their job was no longer to do the work—it’s to lead the firm in ways that ensure firm standards are met without their involvement and that the firm isn’t hamstrung by their day-to-day involvement.?

They learned how to sit in their best seat, positioning their firms for growth and optimized performance.?

If you’re still answering every client question, reviewing every deliverable, or stepping in to fix every problem, you’re sitting in the wrong seat. You’re doing work that belongs to someone else. And if you don’t start letting go, your growth will stall, your team will underperform, and your potential will remain capped by the sheer number of hours you can personally work.?

So, here’s where I focus coaching to help shift the game—and you can, too:?

1. Define Your Best Seat?

Ask yourself: What are the 3-5 things that I do that add the greatest value and impact to the firm? Everything else gets delegated or eliminated. As a leader, your greatest impact isn’t doing everything, it’s focusing on the few things that will truly move the needle.?

2. Build an Independent Team?

Leaders often end up taking work and problems back when they don’t train and empower others to solve problems on their own.? Instead of giving answers, start asking, “What do you think we should do?” Every. Single. Time. At first, your team will be hesitant. But over time they will either stop bringing you problems or you will realize you need to replace them with people who can. Your job is to build leaders in each role, allowing you to focus on strategic issues instead of being the default fix-it-guy (or gal).??

3. Set and Share the Vision??

If you don’t have a clear vision for the firm, your goals, and how each role contributes to those goals, it’s going to take more energy, effort and economics to create the outcomes you want.? Our job as leaders is to set strategy and then to set the standards by which we will get there.? If you want your team to think and act like owners, you need to give them something to get invested in, and recognize and reward their contribution.???

One of our clients was a $300 million firm that was overwhelmed and overrun by the demands of client service and continuous business breakdowns, taking over a G1 practice with legacy issues and needing to create a steady prospect pipeline.? They were exasperated and frustrated by their inability to sit in their best seat so they could actually lead the firm forward.???

A few years later the firm is thriving, has a steady pipeline and a team that is empowered to sit in their best seats so the partners can sit in theirs.? Their business economics and their work experience (as well as their teams) have both improved immeasurably since they applied the three steps above.???

If you’re reading this and thinking, That sounds like me, this week’s Mojo is an invitation to identify one thing you’re still holding onto that keeps you from sitting in your best seat and develop a 30-day plan to get it off your plate.?

I double dog dare you.?

No limits,