Agencies are founded by people who are good at something. They have a way of thinking and a way of doing stuff. Part of scaling, part of getting a little bit bigger than yourself, is giving other people the opportunity to do stuff.
Many agency owners are afraid that someone else will make a mistake, so they want everyone to do everything exactly the way that they do. They allow no room for deviation. That’s an unrealistic expectation, and it means that you’re focused on the wrong thing as a business leader. You’re unique. You’re the only you that there is, so you’re going to be the only person who thinks exactly the way that you do and does things exactly the way that you do.
A business leader needs to focus on outcomes. Your job is to create a team process that creates the desired outcome. If you’re telling someone, “You didn’t do it like I did,” that means you’re focused on their process, not on the outcome.
You need to create a framework where your team can execute what you expect them to execute in the most efficient way for them. A good framework will lead to the desired outcome and be shareable and understandable by everybody else. It doesn’t have to be your way. It just has to be your outcome.
