Welcome back to The COO Solution Podcast! In this solo episode, host Derek Fredrickson unpacks one of the biggest breakthroughs every business owner needs to experience: how to build a self-managing team that runs (and thrives) without you.
If you’ve ever wondered what would happen if you stepped away from your business for a week or two and feared it would all fall apart, this episode will shift your perspective. Derek walks through the three core pillars that make a self-managing team possible: systems, accountability, and trust. He shares how these work together to free you from day-to-day bottlenecks, empower your team to take ownership, and allow your business to grow sustainably, without constant supervision.
In This Episode:
[00:08] The Vision – What would it feel like if your business kept running (and thriving) without you?
[01:38] The Reality Check – Why most founders don’t have businesses—they have jobs with helpers.
[02:30] Why It Matters – The burnout, bottlenecks, and missed potential that come from doing it all.
[04:22] The 3 Pillars of a Self-Managing Team:
- Systems & Processes – SOPs, automation, and project management tools that create repeatability.
- Accountability Structures – Roles, scorecards, and KPIs that keep everyone aligned and transparent.
- Culture of Ownership & Trust – How to move from micromanaging to true leadership.
[07:09] The Mistakes That Keep You Stuck – Hiring helpers instead of owners, keeping everything in your head, and avoiding hard conversations.
[09:38] A Real Client Example – How one founder went from overwhelm to taking a two-week unplugged vacation while her business grew.
[12:04] Your Takeaway – What happens when you finally stop being the bottleneck and let your team lead?
📌 Why This Matters
You can’t scale if everything depends on you. Freedom comes from systems, structure, and trust—not from doing more. When you empower your team to own their roles and outcomes, your business doesn’t just survive your absence—it thrives because of it.
✅ Action Steps for Listeners:
- Audit your current operations: Could your business run for a week without you?
- Start documenting your key systems and processes.
- Create accountability by assigning clear owners for every result.
- Build trust through delegation—not micromanagement.
Resources & Links:
👉 If you found this episode valuable, share it with a fellow business owner ready to scale smarter!
Transcript:
00:08
Derek Fredrickson
What would it feel like if your business kept running without you? And I don’t mean just barely running. Like your team is treading water and trying to survive until you come back to save the day. I mean, thriving, growing, delivering results, maybe even doing better without you there. And imagine this for a moment. You take two weeks off, right? No laptop, no calls. Maybe you’re traveling, maybe you’re spending time with family, or maybe you’re finally resting and just taking a break. And when you come back, you realize that clients were actually taken care of, projects were completed on time, and revenue kept coming in and maybe even increased. That’s what a self-managing team makes possible. And if you don’t have that yet, you’re probably feeling one of two things.
00:51
Derek Fredrickson
Either number one, you’re frustrated that everything depends on you, or guilty that you should be delegating more, but you’re not sure how. And today we’re diving deep into what it really takes to build a self-managing team. One that thrives without you.
Welcome back to the COO Solution podcast. I’m your host, Derek Fredrickson, and thank you for being here today. This podcast is about helping founders, entrepreneurs, business owners, CEOs, finally build businesses that don’t require them to be in the middle of every little thing. Because the reality is you can’t scale, you can’t grow your business, you can’t have freedom, and you can’t actually enjoy what you’ve built if the entire thing collapses the moment you take a step back. And I’ll be honest, today’s episode hits pretty close to home for me because I’ve been there.
01:38
Derek Fredrickson
Back in the early days, I thought I was building a team right as I was building my business. But really I was building a group of people who still relied on me for every decision, every approval, every next step. And the truth is, that wasn’t leadership, that was babysitting. And it was exhausting. So today I want to share not just a big picture of what a self-managing team looks like, but also the specific systems, processes and leadership practices that make it possible.
So here’s the tough truth. Most founders don’t actually have a business. I’m sorry to say it, but I do believe that it’s, in some cases, the truth. They have a job with helpers. And if you’re the bottleneck, if you’re the hub of the wheel, if everything stops when you’re not available, you’re not running a business, you’re running yourself ragged.
02:30
Derek Fredrickson
But when you build a self-managing team, one that has clear roles, systems that keep things moving and a culture of trust. You shift from being a micromanager to being a real CEO. And that’s where the freedom comes in.
Let’s dig into why this matters so much. Reason number one, you can’t scale without it. You cannot scale without a self-managing team. And if you’re the one making every decision, growth stalls. You become the ceiling. And what’s ironic is that many founders think they’re the fuel for growth. But if all the growth depends on them, they’re actually the limitation. They’re the bottleneck. They’re getting in the way. Reason number two, burnout is inevitable. This isn’t just about being tired.It’s about that bone deep exhaustion that makes you start questioning why you even started. Is this even worth it?
03:30
Derek Fredrickson
If every problem lands on your desk, you can’t lead with vision. You’re just putting out fires. And reason number three, you block your team’s potential. When your team is waiting for you to provide every answer, they never develop ownership. They never take real responsibility of their role. And then you complain. Why don’t they take the initiative? Why don’t they feel more empowered? Well, they don’t because you’ve not trained them to do so. So here’s the question I want to ask you for today. I want you to really sit with this. If you took a week off, would your business keep running or would it grind to a halt? Is the thought of stepping away making you anxious and worried? That’s not a reflection of your team’s talent. It’s a reflection of the systems you have or the systems you don’t have in place.
04:22
Derek Fredrickson
Let’s talk about the three pillars of a self-managing team. So how do you build one. Pillar number one: Systems and Processes. Systems are what make your business repeatable. Think SOPs, written checklists, video walkthroughs, a playbook that lives somewhere. That’s not in your head. It’s the “how-we-run-your-business”. Think project management tools like Asana, ClickUp, trello Monday.com, where tasks are tracked, visible and owned and you have the capacity to see what’s happening in your business at a moment’s notice. Think automation tools like Zapier or Dubsado or Make.com or HubSpot that handle the repetitive stuff, right? The things that can get in the way.
05:22
Derek Fredrickson
Let me tell you, most CEOs resist this part because systems feel boring, they’re not sexy. They want to stay in the creative visionary space. But here’s the thing. Systems are freedom. Without them, you’re stuck repeating yourself over and over. With systems, you’re free to innovate, create, and actually lead. Pillar number two, accountability structures. This is about clarity. Every person should know their role. Every role should have a clear set of outcomes it’s accountable for. This is why tools like the accountability chart from EOS (Entrepreneurial Operating System) are so powerful. You see who owns what, add in a scorecard or KPIs and metrics, maybe five to 10 key metrics that attract weekly, and suddenly you don’t have to chase people down. You see the health of the business at a glance. And this is critical.
06:17
Derek Fredrickson
Accountability isn’t about micromanaging, it’s about creating visibility so that performance is transparent, not hidden. And pillar number three is a culture of ownership and trust. This one’s less about tools and more about leadership and you stepping into the future vision of the business owner that you want to be. Ownership means your team isn’t just completing tasks. They’re not just going through the motions, they’re owning outcomes. They’re thinking, “How do I solve this? How can I be more proactive in what I’m doing?” instead of “I’m just going to wait until Derek tells me what to do next, right?” That’s not a recipe for success. And trust means letting them do it. For most founders, this is the hardest part because it means letting go. And here’s the truth. Delegation is a skill. Most people don’t actually delegate.
07:09
Derek Fredrickson
They abdicate. They toss something over the fence without context or support, and then it doesn’t work. And they say, “See, I knew it, couldn’t trust them. I knew it wouldn’t happen.” It’s what I call drive by delegation. But true delegation sounds like, “This is the outcome that I want. Here are the parameters, my expectations. Here’s how we’ll measure success, and I trust you to figure out the how.” When you combine systems, accountability and trust, you get a team that doesn’t just do the work, they own the results.
Now let’s talk about what usually goes wrong. And you may have experienced some of this in the past. There are a few mistakes we need to keep in mind when we talk about a self-managing team. Mistake number one is hiring helpers, not owners.
07:54
Derek Fredrickson
If you’re hiring people just to check the box, don’t expect them to think strategically. Okay? Owners ask, “How can I solve this?” Helpers ask, “What do you want me to do next?” Tell me what to do. Mistake number two, keeping everything in your head. We got to get it out of your head and into an SOP document. If the only playbook is you, then you’re the system and you can’t scale you in your business, and that’s why you’re stuck. Mistake number three, micromanaging. We covered this in a previous episode on this podcast. If you give someone ownership but then second guess every decision, they’ll stop trying. Nothing kills initiative faster than redoing people’s work. And mistake number four, avoiding tough conversation. This is a big one. Accountability means calling out when someone fails to meet expectations.
08:49
Derek Fredrickson
If you don’t do that, you’re not creating a culture of ownership, you’re building a culture of excuses. I’ve made all four of these mistakes myself, and every founder I’ve worked with has too. It’s part of the learning process. But the good news is that you can fix them.
Let me share a real example because I think sometimes it’s helpful to hear a real story of how this actually works.
09:38
Derek Fredrickson
So one of my clients here at the COO Solution, a multiple seven figure coaching business, came to us just completely overwhelmed. She was brilliant, she had all the great ideas and she was driven, but she was drowning in the day to day. And I mean just completely overwhelmed. Her team was talented, but they were in a holding pattern, kind of just waiting for the next step. They waited for her to give the green light on everything. And she couldn’t take a day off without 10 fires waiting for her to get back and whack-a-moling everything that needed to get done. So here’s what we did. Number one, we created an accountability chart. Everyone had a seat and every seat had an owner. Suddenly the gray areas disappeared.
10:23
Derek Fredrickson
Number two, we created SOPs, Standard Operating Procedures. We documented her client onboarding and how we do a product launch so there was no more relying on her memory. We had a repeatable system that we could do again and again. And number three, we implemented scorecards, KPIs, metrics, just five weekly measurables that we can track and measure. And that was profoundly simple but very very powerful. And we created a culture shift through these measurements. We’ve trained the team to own their lanes, to own their responsibilities, to take more ownership, more accountability, more responsibility, rather than deferring to her for every single answer and every single next step. And the result, honestly, within just a few short months, because these systems do take a bit of time to put into place, she was able to take a two week trip with her family.
11:17
Derek Fredrickson
And I don’t mean just a two week trip with the laptop and checking email, like what I would call an unplugged vacation. We ran the business for her in her absence. No laptop, no emergencies, no text messages. When she came back, not only was she feeling refreshed and energized, her team was stronger. They felt more empowered and capable because they did really good work without her there. They became more self-managing and her revenue actually grown. We actually completed a product launch in the two week period when she wasn’t there that was more successful than the last one when she was involved. And maybe most importantly, she realized she didn’t need to be the bottleneck anymore. It was a huge mindset shift in her leveling up to be the next version of the CEO that she wanted to be.
12:04
Derek Fredrickson
That’s what a self-managing team can do. So let me ask you, if you’re listening or watching, do you want that? Do you want a self-managing team? Do you want to step away and know your business won’t just survive, but thrive? Because this is what we do at The COO Solution. We help founders, entrepreneurs, business owners establish the systems, accountability, the structures and the culture necessary to build businesses that don’t depend on them. So if you’re interested in finding out more, you can go to thecosolution.com and book a call with me and let’s have a conversation. We’ll talk about where you’re stuck and what it would look like to get unstuck and build a business that scales and grows, that runs without you. Finally, you don’t have to figure this out on your own anymore.
12:55
Derek Fredrickson
That’s it for today’s episode of The COO Solution podcast. Thank you for being here with me. I’m your host again, Derek Fredrickson. If you found this valuable, I would love it if you would share this with another founder or business owner who needs to hear this message about a self-managing team. And don’t forget to subscribe if you’re not already listening to our episodes. We release them very often and wouldn’t want you to miss what’s coming next. And remember, your business doesn’t have to depend on you. With the right systems, accountability, and a culture of trust, you can build a self-managing team. And when you do, you don’t just buy back your time, you buy back your life. Okay, I’m Derek Fredrickson. Thanks for listening and I’ll see you in the next one.