Playing Goalie
As the owner of an agency, you wear many hats. So many hats. We like to remember the lead roles, the coach, the mentor, etc. We are most often the one closing the deals, a “rainmaker” as they say. We find and secure the work for our team, or still sometimes ourselves, to produce.
We need to remember we are still the gatekeeper, the goalie, the one blocking some shots.
Saying no has become an increasingly large focus of mine. Like a goalie, I have been focusing more and more of my effort on blocking and denying. It’s what I’m on the field to do for my team.
I said no to a person who was having a very hard time finding time to meet in our timezone. I’ve played that game before and we for sure lost. If they cant sort out timezones and use the tools we give them, still demanding to meet at odd hours for the initial calls, they will not be any better for the team designing and developing the work.
I said no to a project I totally could have done. Moving 40k contacts from one CRM to a more web-based tool that may need better web integration. It’s a fringe task that only I could do out of my team. You see, if I did this, it would pay well but my focus would shift to producing that deliverable, and be pulled from supporting my team with work they can do.
I’m sure you have read it a million times. The successful people say no 10x more than they say yes. This has been really connecting with me recently and I’m working on honing the skill. Like most things in life, practicing it makes it easier. I find ways to say no and still help. “Here are 2 people closer in timezone to you that you can try”, or, “I think this company could be a good fit to help with your CRM project, it’s not something my team is an expert in”. I’m fulfilling my internal drive of helping others, by guiding them to the right fit.
Say no a few more times. Find ways to make it work for you.
