Choosing an Effective Integrator for Your Business
The Visionary’s drive, passion, and creativity fuel the growth and development of their company through new ideas, creative problem solving, and continuous innovation. As an entrepreneur and the visionary, you may think you can effectively implement your ideas and processes on your own. After all, they are your ideas. So, who can get the job done better than you, right?
The reality — more often than not — is that entrepreneurs are usually not the best at implementing their own ideas. Because they are the dreamers, constantly coming up with new ideas and practices, it can often lead to confusion. Everyone in the organization is trying to keep up.
- Think about the last time you finished a book or saw a speaker who spoke to you about how to improve your business. The next day you went to your team, excited. You had everyone read the book and started implementing all the new things you learned.Two weeks later you watched a Ted Talk that reminded you of an idea that was going to be the key to growing your business… So, you went back to your team and asked them to stop doing the previous thing they were implementing to focus on this new process.
Is that you? Would your team be laughing right now if I said this to them?
If you want to get your ideas into action effectively, you’ll need some support. An Integrator is a key to maintaining order, who acts as the glue that brings everything together in your business in a focused manner. Here is how.
One Vision at A Time
Integrators have the ability to bring clarity, communication, and consistency to your business. They are able to keep your leadership team accountable and goal-focused.
When I started my first company as an entrepreneur, I had so many great ideas, and — in my mind — I believed that I could be both the Visionary and the Integrator—like most Entrepreneurs think.
The problem was that any time I had a new vision or idea, I would shift the vision mid-quarter, leaving everyone feeling lost and confused. This caused a breakdown in the process. As a result, it negatively impacted the company culture and results.
An Integrator brings order to the process of executing the dreams and ideas of the Visionary by managing the pulse of the company and guarding against shiny object syndrome and purposeless rabbit holes. They provide the structure and the order to get things done without creating confusion along the way.
Effective Collaboration
When there are too many ideas in the company queue, acting on all of them at the same time or in close succession can cause confusion.
The Integrator can partner with the Visionary to make sure the big ideas align with the company’s goals. If so, the Integrator will pull together all of the resources and develop the outline for the endeavor to be successful. Otherwise, the Integrator can help to focus on the visionary and prioritize goals.
I experienced this scenario before I had someone take on the role of Integrator. As the Integrator, this person worked closely with me and helped keep everyone focused to realize my vision. The key to an effective Visionary-Integrator relationship is to be on the same page. If not, chaos ensues.
One feature of EOS is the Same Page Meeting. This is the most important meeting for any business, as it ensures both the Visionary and Integrator on the same page.
Same Page meetings occur once per month, during which time the two key players in the organization realign and discuss issues. In this meeting, the Visionary and Integrator:
- Identify and prioritize issues.
- Discuss each one.
- Solve the problems, no matter how long it takes.
That last point is important, as both must be committed to working as long as necessary to find a solution. Once they are in alignment, the Integrator can disseminate the directives to the upper management team.
Stay Accountable
It’s all well and good to create guidelines or goals as a company, but if no one is being held accountable for them, what’s the point?
When I’m trying to lose weight, I need to pay for a gym membership and a trainer. Why? Because it keeps me accountable. If I’m paying and not going to train, then I feel guilty and am reminded of the goal.
You need a way to stay accountable for your business goals too, and this is where an Integrator can help. Integrators are detail-oriented and fact-based, which is why they act as the best foils for Visionaries, who often make decisions based on emotions or gut feelings. It is often difficult for Visionaries to hold people accountable or figure out how to improve team efficiency. An Integrator will be able to do both while bringing process and predictability to a company.
Choosing a good Integrator is a conscious step toward taking your business to the next level while keeping all members of the team accountable.
Even the greatest Visionaries need support to bring their ideas to life. Integrators offer clarity to the vision by fostering collaboration and using their expertise to create a path to success. Together, the Visionary and the Integrator are an unstoppable duo.
Empower your Leadership Team and improve efficiency, increase value, and foster collaboration to get better results. A professional Facilitator can ensure that all of your members are on the same page, so you can kick your business up a notch. Connect with The Profit Recipe to Achieve Traction.
