In his book, \u201cTraction: Get a Grip on Your Business,\u201d Gino Wickman envisions an organizational chart with the guy at the top as the \u201cVisionary\u201d and the guy immediately below him as the \u201cIntegrator.\u201d\u00a0 In Wickman\u2019s model, the Visionary is the company\u2019s creative sparkplug, the guy who sees opportunities and possibilities and is always pushing to embrace them.\u00a0 The Integrator is the one who takes the Visionary\u2019s ideas and puts them into practice.\u00a0 According to Wickman, you almost never find the Visionary and the Integrator roles in a single person.\u00a0 I think he\u2019s right.\u00a0 Although you may find a single person trying to play both roles, the effort is rarely successful.\u00a0 The roles are just too different and require vastly different personality types.\u00a0 So which role should the company owner play?\u00a0 Good question!\u00a0 For the answer, please read below.<\/p>\n
Are you a Visionary or an Integrator?<\/p>\n
Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw once said, \u201cThe people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want, and if they can\u2019t find them, make them.\u201d\u00a0 That\u2019s a pretty good description of entrepreneurs.\u00a0 And while this may be a broad generalization, entrepreneurs tend to be a little like crows, always distracted by the next shiny thing they see.\u00a0 They may want to move on to their next BIG IDEA while their organization is still trying to digest the last one.\u00a0 So in the best of all worlds, the small business owner who is also an entrepreneur (yes, that would be just about all of them) would hold down the role of Visionary while installing a really effective manager in the role of Integrator.\u00a0 Unfortunately, it doesn\u2019t always go that way.<\/p>\n
True visionary leaders tend to be terrible managers . . . I know, another broad generalization, but it has the benefit of being true most of the time.\u00a0 If they\u2019re honest with themselves, most of them will tell you that.\u00a0 Their creative minds are focused on the exciting possibilities they see on the horizon, and it\u2019s difficult for them to concentrate on the mundane details of current operations.\u00a0 But here\u2019s the problem.\u00a0 Sometimes they find themselves in the role of Integrator which is absolutely the wrong place for them to be.\u00a0 An Integrator needs to be an effective manager who is well-organized, can juggle a lot of details, and who can marshal the right processes to get stuff done . . . all the things the Visionary lacks.<\/p>\n
In some cases, there\u2019s no choice but for the Visionary to try to shoulder the Integrator role. Maybe this is a brand new startup and there\u2019s no room in the budget for a talented Integrator.\u00a0 Or maybe the old Integrator left or got hit by a bus and we haven\u2019t been able to find a new one yet.\u00a0 In those situations, the Visionary has to muddle through until someone more suitable can fill the Integrator role.\u00a0 But in other cases, the Visionary has also claimed the Integrator role due to ego or trust issues.\u00a0 After all, why should someone else get the credit for bringing my brainchild to life?\u00a0 Besides, someone who is not as emotionally attached to the idea as I am may screw up the execution.\u00a0 So with these thoughts, the Visionary clings to the Integrator role even though, deep down, he or she may know that someone else belongs in that spot.<\/p>\n
The message here is simple.\u00a0 If you\u2019re a Visionary (and you know who you are), stick with that role . . . it\u2019s what you\u2019re best at and it\u2019s where you bring the most value to the company.\u00a0 If your situation prevents you from handing off the Integrator role, make it your primary goal to change that situation as quickly as possible.\u00a0 If it\u2019s your ego that\u2019s in the way, get over yourself.<\/p>\n
As Wickman points out, the roles of Visionary and Integrator are just so different and require such different skills and aptitudes, it only makes sense to keep them separate.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In his book, \u201cTraction: Get a Grip on Your Business,\u201d Gino Wickman envisions an organizational chart with the guy at the top as the \u201cVisionary\u201d and the guy immediately below him as the \u201cIntegrator.\u201d\u00a0 In Wickman\u2019s model, the Visionary is the company\u2019s creative sparkplug, the guy who sees opportunities and possibilities and is always pushing<\/p>\n