Awesome! You JUST hired your first Online Business Manager!
Buuuuut this is your first time managing this role, so you’re not sure how to kick-off the working relationship?
No problem. Prowess Project has you covered.
Below are ten tips for CEOs/Business Owners (or for simplicity, we’ll call them: Visionaries) for working with their OBMs (Integrators) to achieve the common goal.
Top Ten Tips to work with your Online Business Manager
- Communicate effectively: First things first – Good communication is key to any successful partnership. Start with a First Meeting guide that outlines the Communication cadence, when to escalate, who is responsible for what. These Regular check-ins and open communication will help to build trust and keep everyone aligned.
- Honor (& utilize) each other’s strengths: Visionaries are known for their big-picture thinking, while integrators excel at turning ideas into reality. Both strengths are critical to success, so it’s essential to respect and appreciate each other’s skills. See a list of Visionary & Integrator strengths here.
- Understand each other’s weaknesses: Every individual has their own strengths and weaknesses. Ideally, the two are complimentary. That is KEY when hiring for an integrator. Does this person have the skills that you don’t have? If not, is that the right integrator? See a list of Visionary & Integrator strengths here.
- Set clear goals: Setting clear goals is essential for keeping everyone focused and motivated. Ensure that your goals are specific, measurable, and achievable. Reminder, it’s OK that the visionary will want to push them and the integrator will keep the visionary accountable to reaching them and adhering to steady growth. The two balance each other and result in a dynamic duo!
- Be open to feedback: TWO-WAY constructive feedback is essential for personal and professional growth. Be open to feedback from your partner and be willing to provide feedback in return. Need a book on that? Check out Radical Candor by Kim Scott.
- Focus on the bigger picture: How do you do that? Stay the course! As a Visionary, it’s easy to get overwhelmed with day-to-day tasks – and quite frankly, get bored of them. But it’s essential for the Integrator to constantly remind you of the bigger picture and why these tasks are the consistent todos that will lead to the big impact/payday/result/goal etc.
- Make decisions collaboratively: By hiring an OBM/Integrator, you are bringing on a strategic operations-minded leader. Vow to STOP making decisions in a vacuum, especially, if you are getting further and further away from the day-to-day. It’s critical that the visionary and integrator make the decisions together so that the short and long-term goals are considered.
- Be patient: Onboarding and getting used to working together takes time. That’s OK. The more work and communication you put in up front, the better the relationship and therefore results will be. Be sure that you create a safe place for your integrator to come with issues, hiccups, mistakes. That will happen. You didn’t hire a robot (believe me, that will get you nowhere!). You hired an expert.
- Stay in your lane: Each of you are not purists. A visionary can come up with a great action plan and an integrator can have an amazing big-picture vision. It’s what happens next that is critical. The Integrator should take the visionary’s action plan suggestion, test it and implement it with the team. The Visionary should take the idea and validate it in the market by having LOTS of conversations. The clear roles help everyone avoid confusion. Source.
- Celebrate successes together: Finally, y’all when allll your hard work starts paying off – be sure to take time to enjoy it! Recognizing and celebrating your achievements can help to build trust and motivation, and keep you both focused on achieving your shared goals
Thanks for reading the ten tips to work with your Online Business Manager.
Have other tips? Please share below!
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