The lone wolf dies alone

Being a solitary animal is empowering.

You can do whatever you want, whenever you want.

You’re not dependent on anyone else.

It’s the ultimate freedom and self-sovereignty. I do recommend everyone be capable of working alone, but something more is required if you’re going to hit a higher level of performance and revenue.

You may have hired people to help you, and now have a team that is part of your business, but that’s not where it ends. Because even when you bring other people into the company, you probably haven’t let them into your inner circle.

Decisions and advice come from you, no one else.

And it’s the mindset of “nose to the grindstone” and “I have to solve this with hard work rather than getting outside help” that makes it so hard.

The fact is, no one can function at a high level completely on their own. The ideal situation is having a team that covers your weaknesses, allowing you to do much more in your limited time. Not only does this reduce your stress – it multiplies the possibilities for your business.

But high-achiever types who went through the meat grinder to get where they are take it especially hard when they have to depend on someone else for the first time. This is not their way and it is not what they want to do.

A leader without a team is just a high-performer. You need a team behind you to be a true leader, and your business needs you to be a leader in order to solve your problems and hit new records in your revenues.

One pattern you’ll notice in action movies is the prevalence of “lone wolf” types. These are heroes who act alone, and the movies are pretty much just long sequences of them shooting and winning on their own.

That’s fun and all, but it has brainwashed people to be less effective.

Bear with me…

It’s easy to romanticize the lone wolf.

He roams alone, taking care of himself. Accomplishing much and depending on no one.

However, being smart and diligent isn’t enough to excel. It’s enough to do well and survive, but to hit higher levels of performance, a whole different structure of work is required.

One of interdependence.

One where you admit that you’re only as good as the people backing you up and go out of your way to empower them and win their loyalty.

Otherwise, you’ll always be worried that someone is going to quit and leave you high and dry.

Your low retention rate is just a symptom of a much bigger problem:

Poor hiring standards and a lack of communication with your employees.

The good news and bad news is these aren’t anyone else’s fault but your own. That makes it easy to solve them but also means it’s up to you to solve them.

Here’s what I want to focus on today:

Communication is key.

Blah blah blah. How many times is some talking head going to say that before they realize it’s about as useful as “there’s no ‘I’ in ‘team’ “?

The truth is, “yes” communication is important. But until you understand the “why” of it, why would you care?

Funnily enough, this is the thing you need to learn how to communicate.

Ask someone to repeatedly walk around in circles on the job. I dare you.

They’ll be content to do it for a minute, maybe 2. And then they’ll feel like you’re wasting their time, even though you’re paying them to be on the job. At that point, you’ve lost them. Because they don’t know “why” they’re there.

Now, while I can’t invent a reason why any of your employees should ever walk around in circles, I know you have plenty of situations where your employees don’t know why they’re doing something, so they lose motivation on the job.

This is the pain of transitioning from lone wolf to interdependent leader.

Giving orders is just a small part of being a boss. People need to subscribe to what you’re saying and know there’s a reason for it if they’re going to be loyal to you and your practice.

You can chase more money in your business… but it’s just going to mean temporary highs before you get bogged down by the problems in your business.