Why Your Family Business Keeps Relying On You For Everything

28 Apr

Here’s something a lot of family business owners probably don’t want to hear.

If your team keeps coming to you with every little problem, there’s a fair chance you’ve played a part in creating that.

Not because you’re doing a bad job.

But because somewhere along the way, you may have trained them to need you.

In this episode, Mark and Caroline talk about problem ownership, over-instructing, and what happens when business owners are so involved in everything that their team stops thinking for themselves.

There’s even a name for it. It’s called learned helplessness.

And once you see it, you start noticing it everywhere. The decisions that keep landing on your desk. The questions your team should be able to answer. The jobs that don’t move forward unless you push them along.

The good news is, fixing it doesn’t mean blowing up the way you run your business.

It starts with a few simple shifts in how you lead, how you respond, and how clearly you communicate what success actually looks like.

Because the goal was never to build a business that needs you for every decision.

It was to build one that can keep moving, even when you’re not standing in the middle of it.

In today's podcast, Mark explores:

01:29 – How over-instructing quietly trains your team to stop thinking
05:19 – What learned helplessness actually looks like in a family business
07:17 – How to create ownership without micromanaging
09:03 – Why your reaction to mistakes is shaping your entire culture
12:20 – The hidden cost of unclear expectations in your business
14:53 – How to build a true culture of ownership (not just talk about it)
17:55 – The fastest way to know if you’re the bottleneck

Resources

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Quotes

“Are you teaching your team to be helpless? You don't mean to, but is the result of what you're doing actually teaching your team to be helpless?” - Mark Creedon

“To be a leader, you have to be an artist. You've got to be able to paint the picture. What does success look like? You've got to paint that picture for your team.” - Mark Creedon

“Ownership comes when you build a culture of ownership. People feel comfortable saying ‘I own the mistake.’ But they also feel comfortable coming to you and going, ‘Guess what I just did?’ And they're really proud of themselves.” - Mark Creedon

“If you have to micromanage someone, they're going to start to feel that you don't trust them, and they're just going to not be an engaged and happy team member.” - Caroline Creedon

“If you've got happy staff, they're feeling like they're thinking for themselves. They've got a lot of creativity in the role. They feel good about that. They have their own autonomy going on. They're not going to leave.” - Caroline Creedon

The Mastermind for Business podcast is powered by Business Accelerator Mastermind, a coaching program that helps service business owners and professionals double their revenue whilst halving their time in the business. Each week, Mark Creedon, a Business Coach at Business Accelerator Mastermind, speaks with some of the best business minds in the world and shares simple, practical steps you can take to create the business you always wanted.

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About Mastermind Business Accelerator

Mastermind Business Accelerator is a hands-on practical program aimed at driving results fast. Spearheaded by Mark and Caroline Creedon and a range of highly qualified experts, the program will give you back the freedom you hoped for when you first started your business or professional practice. With his coaching program, Business Accelerator Mastermind, Mark helps business owners maximise their time, set and achieve goals, while remaining accountable.