How Can a Tech CEO Avoid Operational Distractions

It would be an understatement to say that CEOs are busy. For early or mid-stage tech CEOs, that’s especially true. Part of the reason is because every decision seems to fall on the desk of the CEO. That makes sense early in the life of a startup, but once the business starts to scale and hire more people, that needs to stop.

It’s far too easy for anything requiring a decision to go to the CEO. But this just puts more on the CEO’s plate when there is already so much on it already. Other than annoying the CEO, this can lead to delays and frustration, not to mention a loss of momentum for the business.

Rather than leaving everything up to the CEO, scaling startups should aim to make tactical decisions as close to the frontline as possible. After all, scaling a company means scaling through people and decisions. In other words, people need to be trusted to make decisions without bothering the CEO.

For example, imagine a junior salesperson wants to give a customer a discount but doesn’t know if they can. Should they bring that decision to the CEO? Absolutely not! The first place to go for such a decision would be the VP of sales. That position should be able to answer that question without bothering the CEO. 

Of course, the ideal solution would be to have a process in place for allowing discounts or not. Ideally, the VP of sales would be the person creating and implementing that process. If that were the case, the junior salesperson would be able to answer the question about discounts on their own, which would lead to a smooth and efficient process - and hopefully a sale.

To accomplish this, there should be an outline for decisions that employees can fill in. Think of it as a coloring book; the lines are already drawn and employees just have to color inside them. It should be the senior executives - not the CEO - drawing these lines.

If a situation like this gets to the desk of the CEO, the first question should be asking why nobody else is responsible for addressing the issue. Why isn’t the team set up to cover every technical responsibility throughout the company? The answer is empowering employees to make decisions as close to the frontlines as possible. This is the best way for CEOs to avoid getting bogged down with operational distractions that will only slow growth.