How much are you carrying?A 5-minute check for owners
Fifteen plain questions. You will see what still runs through you, and which part to fix first.
Answer for a normal week, not your best one.
The problem is almost never the people. It is that the way work happens lives in somebody’s head instead of somewhere everyone can reach. These questions show you where yours lives.
Selene Powell, MBA, PMP
Written down
Is the work written down?
Your score here: – of 6
If you were out sick for two weeks, someone could keep the work going from written steps.
When someone asks how a task is done, you send them the written steps instead of explaining it again.
If you hired help tomorrow, there is one place with the steps they could learn from on day one.
Decisions
Who can decide without you?
Your score here: – of 6
Someone else can say yes to a small spend, discount, or refund without asking you.
When a customer asks for something extra, the person helping them knows what to say without checking with you.
Small questions get answered without coming to you.
Who owns what
Is it clear who handles what?
Your score here: – of 6
Every regular task has one person’s name on it, even if that name is yours.
When work passes from one person to the next, both agree on what “finished” means.
You can see where every job stands without chasing anyone.
Problems and money
What keeps costing you?
Your score here: – of 6
When something goes wrong, you fix why it happened, so it does not come back.
You know which of your products or services make money, and which ones just keep you busy.
Each week, you can see money in, money out, and what still needs to be done, without digging for it.
Time away
What happens when you are gone?
Your score here: – of 6
You could take five business days off in a row without checking messages.
After time away, there is no pile waiting that only you can clear.
Someone else knows where to find the passwords, accounts, and contacts the business needs.
Your score
Answer all fifteen and your score shows up here. 15 to go.
Start here
If the score was worse than you expected
That is normal, and it is useful to know. A low score usually means the business grew faster than anyone had time to build it. Nothing on this page asks you to hire anyone or buy software.
What every score means
- 24–30
- Most of the weight is off youYour systems exist and people trust them. The work now is growth, not repair. Your risk is quiet drift, where the written steps slowly stop matching what really happens. Review them on a schedule so they stay true.
- 16–23
- The seams are showingMost of the business holds, but one or two workflows still route through you, and those are the ones that keep pulling you back in. This is the most fixable place to be. One rebuilt workflow usually moves the whole score.
- 8–15
- You are the operating systemThe business works because you are in it, not because it is built. Every path runs through your attention. Hiring now tends to add work instead of removing it, because there is nothing for a new person to step into.
- 0–7
- The business cannot pauseIf you stop, it stops. This is common and it is survivable, but it does not get better on its own, and it does not get better by working harder. It gets better by getting one task out of your head and onto paper, then the next.
What each area means when it scores lowest
- Written down
- You are the manual. Every answer costs you an interruption, and nothing you explain gets reused. Start by writing down the one task you explain most often.
- Decisions
- The people around you can do more than they are allowed to. The holdup is permission, not skill. Write down who can decide what, and up to what amount.
- Who owns what
- Work slips when nobody’s name is on it, or when everyone thinks someone else has it. Start by listing your regular tasks and writing one name beside each, even if it is yours.
- Problems and money
- You may be paying for the same problems more than once, in time or in money. When you can’t see which work pays, it is hard to know what to fix first. Start by listing what you sell and marking which ones made money last month.
- Time away
- If you are the only one who can reach the accounts or clear the pile, the business stops when you do. Start by writing down which accounts and contacts the business needs, and make sure one person you trust can find them.
