The Captain of the Ship
One of the first things I look for when working with a new client is their organisational chart and specifically which roles are responsible for what within the business. Very often this doesn’t exist and if it does, it is not always clear who reports to whom and who is responsible for what. However, clarity here is essential since if changes are to be made in the business, it is clearly important to know who is responsible for owning and managing these and unless the business is a sole proprietor, the CEO cannot own them all. So creating a well-defined organisational structure defining the relationship between the roles is key and for each role there should be a documented ‘Position Description’ to clearly articulate the responsibilities of the role. Interestingly the one role for which I have yet to find a Position Description created by any business is that of the CEO or Managing Director themselves. Perhaps this may be one of the reasons that this role is very often the busiest within a company!
From my perspective, the role of the CEO is to ensure that the company operates as a successful and profitable enterprise through a productive, professional and healthy corporate culture and that each business function is working correctly. In other words, the CEO gets the required results by making sure that all the various business elements are kept in balance with one another. In many ways, the role of the CEO can be compared with that of a captain of a large ship, so here are some analogies to highlight the similarities:
• Before a ship departs on its voyage, the Captain needs to know the destination, required time of arrival and the planned route using navigational charts. In the same way, the CEO needs to determine what the business is to achieve over what timeframe and have a defined strategy or business plan to get there. Data from the navigation instruments is used to make corrections for tides and winds to keep things on track and equally data on business performance (sales, costs, customer satisfaction etc) should be used to adjust actions taken within the company.
• The captain requires a qualified crew on board able to discharge their respective duties and similarly the CEO needs a leadership team with well-defined responsibilities for their specific areas. No matter how good the Captain may be at managing the ship’s engines, charting the course or engaging the passengers, the Captain’s role is primarily to oversee these by getting data showing that all these are in order rather than doing the work themselves. If he or she is spending the bulk of their time too focused on one specific area, then the potential to miss other key information increases. Likewise, it may be very tempting for a CEO that is very good at sales or account management for example to get drawn into the details here and overlook internal problems elsewhere in the business, hence the need to ensure ‘that all the various business elements are kept in balance with one another.
• A happy crew that works effectively together and communicates well is essential to an enjoyable and successful trip and a clear example of how the journey is as important as the destination. This is analogous to the ‘productive, professional and healthy corporate culture’ mentioned above without which it is much harder to achieve sustainable business results.
There are many more analogies that can be made here, but the key point to take away is that the Captain or the CEO can’t be doing everything! How would the ship’s crew feel about a Captain that is never on the bridge and stressed to the max? Good luck with charting your course.
Ian Ash ACC, AInstIB
Managing Director OrgMent Business Solutions