Why splicing your time as an integrator doesn’t work

An Integrator plays a critical role in driving operational excellence and growth within an organisation. Yet, due to a number of reasons, integrators sometimes splice their time in multiple roles, for example, holding down the integrator role and the finance role.

To assist, here are some key aspects of the integrator role:

• Operational Focus: Integrators are operationally oriented individuals. They work inside the business, collaborating closely with the Visionary (typically the founder) and the senior leadership team.
• Execution and Alignment: Integrators translate the Visionary’s ideas into actionable plans. They focus on executing the company’s vision, setting strategies, and achieving major goals.
• Responsibilities: Integrators have oversight of some crucial business functions such as:
  • P&L (Profit and Loss) Accountability
  • Decision-Making - Lead key decisions and align various teams toward common goals.
  • Team collaboration – they make sure the leadership respond to issues in a coordinated way and hold them to account for their activities.
  • Tough conversations – they have the conversations the visionary doesn’t want to have.

The problem, with splitting time in such a crucial role as an Integrator, has a hidden cost, which will affect your ability to grow.

Challenges of Multiple Roles

Here’s why taking on additional leadership roles by an Integrator, can negatively impact business performance:

• Dilution of Focus: Juggling multiple seats on the leadership team divides an Integrator’s attention. They may struggle to give each role the necessary focus, leading to suboptimal outcomes.
• Conflicting Priorities: Different roles may have conflicting priorities. An Integrator may face challenges balancing the function accountabilities of each position while making strategic decisions.
• Burnout: The demands of multiple roles can lead to burnout, affecting decision quality and overall effectiveness.

Traditional solutions

To address these challenges, consider the following traditional solutions:

• Clarify Roles and Expectations: Clearly define the responsibilities of each role an Integrator holds. Set expectations for time allocation and priorities.
• Delegate and Elevate: Delegate tasks that can be handled by others, freeing up the Integrator’s time. Elevate team members to take ownership of specific areas.
• Create a Strong Leadership Team: Build a robust leadership team with capable individuals who can share the workload. Ensure that each team member has a clear role and contributes effectively.
• Regular Check-Ins: Regularly assess the Integrator’s workload and stress levels. Adjust roles as needed to maintain a healthy balance.
• Make a commitment to hire: Hire a full-time integrator or hire for the seats the integrator is filling.

Businesses should certainly make sure roles are clarified, delegation and elevation are in play, make sure there is a strong leadership team, have regular check ins and consider full-time position recruitment. However, these solutions can be difficult to put in place for lots of reasons, such as:

• Financial commitment to recruitment of full-time positions
• Scarcity of skill sets in the marketplace (see our other article about this - Filling the Integrator Talent Gap)

Independent Executives (IEX) offers an alternative pathway to stop having integrators splicing their time and optimise business outcomes.  

A different solution

At IEX our core focus is giving people more time to do what they love by filling the Integrator talent gap. At IEX, we have built a solution based on the following principles: 

• Built for businesses running on EOS: The only businesses that IEX works with are those running on EOS. They can have either an implementer or self-implementing but must be running on EOS. We don’t work with anyone else.   
• Experienced Integrators: IEX provides seasoned Integrators who understand EOS® principles. These professionals step into the role seamlessly, bringing expertise from diverse industries.
• As Needs Basis: IEX integrators work as required, allowing businesses to benefit without committing to a much higher financial commitment.
• Leadership Team Integration: IEX integrators become integral members of the leadership team. They facilitate Level 10 meetings, quarterly planning, and annual goal-setting.
• Freedom: With an IEX Integrator in place, Visionaries and leadership teams can focus on their accountabilities, knowing that operational excellence, strategic growth and co-ordination are in hand.

And our integrators are back up with: 

• On going development and support – IEX integrators don’t do it alone, they leverage the IEX community of likeminded peers to tap into the wisdom of the crowd.      
• The Integrator Academy – IEX integrators have free access to the Integrator Academy. This platform helps IEX integrators maintain contemporary tactical mastery to make sure the businesses they work with get the best integrator experience.  Link to Integrator Academy here.

Integrators are pivotal to organisational success, spreading them too thin across multiple roles can hinder performance.

 Conclusion

To really have an opportunity to grow, or even stablise your business, the role of the Integrator is essential. However, succeeding is not always an easy journey. It requires discipline, focus and commitment. This can be made so much easier if the Integrator has the ability to fully focus on their accountabilities to help deliver the business everyone wants.

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_{Some of the information for this article has been drawn from the following sources. To learn more about these sources please go to the websites listed below:}

1.  _ninety.io
2.  _{eosworldwide.com}
3.  _{titustalent.com}