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Every leader knows the phrase “It’s lonely at the top”. It’s true that leaders are often lonely. Often they are the only ones who know everything about every person and situation in the company.
When a leader has no one to share their personal struggles or triumphs with, it can sap their energy and lead them to make bad decisions. They have no one to expand their thinking with, share their ideas with, or get insight and inspiration from.
No leader should ever find himself alone in his struggles and decisions. Leadership is about having a team of people who offer help and support in the tough moments of the hour. Here are five internal people every CEO needs on their team:
1. An excellent executive assistant
A key person who needs a leader on their team is an effective executive assistant. Executive Assistants assist executives by assisting the CEO with critical tasks and responsibilities and acting as the information contact for the head of the organization. Trust and effective communication are essential qualities of this person in the team.
Many business owners may be tempted to forego hiring an executive assistant because they would rather focus those resources on other parts of the business. However, when the leader produces, the organization produces. The executive assistant enables the executive to be more effective and productive.
See also: 5 tips for building a strong leadership team
2. A capable and prepared deputy
A major benefit of having a deputy is that they can take the reins when needed. Most leaders have an inherent strong drive to build a better company, but are often frustrated by a lack of time, staff, or resources to make their plans a reality. A deputy or operations associate can help continue operations and provide insight into many parts of the organization.
The leader should find responsible people who will help him to think consciously about the next steps of the organization. When leaders have people they trust to make decisions and lead well, it allows the top leader to spend their time working on the company and not just the company.
3. A strategic numbers person
Every CEO needs someone close by who understands and can interpret numbers. Numbers don’t lie and numbers tell a story. Many business owners and CEOs are unable to know and understand the truths or story that the organization’s numbers tell. Every CEO should run through a few metrics in the organization.
Many companies struggle to make and keep profits. A strategic numbers person helps the CEO manage key metrics and helps the executive make smart decisions that ultimately make the company more profitable.
See also: Why Entrepreneurs Should Choose Insights Over Instincts
4. An operations and process expert
Every company will have processes. The growing business will have a clear understanding of the critical processes that will lead it to success. These critical processes can include processes around payroll, customer and team member onboarding and offboarding, and systems around procurement.
One way to expand the organization’s processes and systems is to add an operations expert to your team. This person can appear as a managing director or as an operations manager. Your primary role is to study how things are being done and work to improve efficiency across the organization.
5. A highly emotional, intelligent individual
Business is always about people. People will push your organization forward or consistently bring it down. Working with people is difficult because people are often not a finished product. People need to be trained, developed and invested to reach their peak performance. Having someone in the CEO circle who has an eye on bringing out the best in people is a key to achieving the “improve your team to improve your organization” business principle.
The human person will have a high emotional equivalent and will be able to see multiple sides of an issue. People in life deal with a variety of issues. Often these problems can be brought into the workplace, and good people can underperform without someone to support them in how to overcome their problems and improve themselves and their personal performance.
As companies grow, they often develop a human resources department. As the CEO continues to grow his team, he needs to consider having a point of contact close by to help him identify who to trust, how to handle tough people issues, and what people policies are needed to build a robust team culture.
Your team can make you better
The CEO team is critical to the success of the leader and the organization they lead. Many business owners understand the value of their team in relation to their business, but can neglect to build a personal team around them to help them make breakthroughs, uncover blind spots, and wrestle with day-to-day decisions professionally and personally.
