Novel idea, isn’t it? During periods of greatest frustration, many of us wish we could do exactly that.
The process that we are suggesting in this article does not stem from frustration. Many of us will get stale in the jobs of owners and chief operating officers of our businesses because of burnout, changes in responsibility that is forced upon us and increased administrative work load. Is your job as an agency owner what you expected from this position 30 years ago? Are you performing the functions that you enjoy most? Are you performing the functions that are most productive for your business?
The way to respond to these questions is to fire yourself as the president for your agency. Than – create a job description of the position of president of the agency as you would like to design it as the owner. Than apply for the job. I bet you will have the inside track on getting it!
Obviously, we are suggesting that the creation of a job description for the position of president of the agency is a worthwhile exercise if you are currently holding that job and are not enjoying it any longer. In the creation of the job description re-create your job as if you were advertising the position in the national trade papers and expected qualified respondents to apply for it. Identify the functions that would be most productively accomplished by the job of president of your agency. Leave out all of those things that have attracted themselves to you like iron filings to a magnet and are not the responsibility of the new president of your organization. Off-load the nonessential responsibilities before applying for and taking this new president’s position. Everything needs to be done, but are you really the best person to do everything for which you have been responsible?
The result of this effort should be a functional job description with measurable goals. If you decide to take this job once you have redesigned it, make sure that twice a year you and other responsible members of your staff evaluate your performance in this new job. If done properly, the result of this exercise will be a more satisfying role for you as president.