A question that has come up recently in several different contexts is the transition from small to big- whether it’s a transition from a sole-proprietorship to a larger business, or whether it’s a transition from a smaller organization, into a larger flourishing organization.
This transition is much more critical than the initial launch. I’ve recently seen two organizations fold at this juncture, and there are two more I’m watching now who are on the brink, one I’m optimistic about, the other seems like it’s teetering very precariously.
In the initial creation of the business, you were excited about what you were creating, and it was coming from thin air, directly from your heart into your hands. With this transition, you have to let go of the way things were before to let the new form take place. And I don’t know about you, but I can certainly struggle with letting go.
And all of this needs to happen without losing sight of the original essence you came to give.
I’ll give you an example of what losing the essence can do. One organization I know, a non-profit based in a spiritual tradition, wanted to become more professional. They did this, but they abandoned to a large extent the core values of their spiritual tradition that allowed them to flourish in the first place. In fact, they hired a chief executive for “professional expertise,” who doesn’t share their spiritual practices.
End result? Complete staff and board disaffection, major donors speaking out against the group, and probably complete dissolution of the organization. This is an extreme version of what we all go through- the battle between mind and heart.
Your heart can hold everything your mind can, but your mind cannot fathom the depths of your heart.
Do not follow your mind, let your mind follow, and bring definition and detail to, what your heart creates.
To do (this comes in part from The E-Myth, by Michael Gerber): Identifying all the parts of your business as if they were separate job positions. This will not only help you in a sole-proprietorship so that you don’t drop the ball on any individual client, but it will help you delegate out particular tasks to others when the time comes.
This is not just a list of to-do’s and descriptions. What I want you to remember is that each system, each task be, in the words of Harriett, my own coach, “in your particular context.” Feel your essence, and how your essence wants to be expressed in every task, whether it’s accounting or marketing. Your product or service is not produced with a cookie cutter (apologies to the bakers out there 🙂 ), don’t let your systems be produced by one either.
If you would like support in this process, don’t hesitate to call. I have helped many entrepreneurs discern their essence, and then to express it in all aspects of their business.
I want to make a pitch for spiritual business community. My heart is in entrepreneurialism, whether non-profit or for-profit. One of the disadvantages about this is that we don’t have an organization that we are a part of, that helps provide structure, and water-cooler chats that help to propel things forward.
This is why I’ve begun the Heart of Business Support Group. We come together as a group once a month in Portland, to focus on practical ways, rooted in the heart and our connection to the Divine, to move our businesses forward. Then, each member also has one or two individual sessions with me to go deep into your particulars. Finally, each group member also has a “buddy” that changes each month, someone to check-in with and feel supported by, so that a complete web of cooperative support is created between us all.
If you are long-distance, let me know if you are interested in this idea, because I will start a conference call version of the group.
