The Owner Bottleneck
Scorecard
Ten statements, about three minutes. Answer for how things really are today, not how you wish they were. Circle one number for each.
Never2
Rarely3
Sometimes4
Often5
Almost always
| 1 | If I stepped away for two weeks, things would stall or slip. | Systems | 12345 |
| 2 | My team brings me decisions they could make on their own. | Delegation | 12345 |
| 3 | How things get done lives mostly in my head, not written down. | Systems | 12345 |
| 4 | Most of my week goes to putting out fires, not the priorities I chose. | Focus | 12345 |
| 5 | I redo or fix work myself because it’s faster than explaining it. | Delegation | 12345 |
| 6 | I don’t have a few key numbers I check every week to know how the business is doing. | Numbers | 12345 |
| 7 | My goals for the next 12 months are in my head, not in a plan with dates. | Focus | 12345 |
| 8 | I’ve been meaning to fix the same problems for six months or more. | Follow-through | 12345 |
| 9 | Revenue is steady or growing, but my profit or my time hasn’t improved. | Numbers | 12345 |
| 10 | No one holds me accountable to the changes I say I’ll make. | Follow-through | 12345 |
Find your biggest bottleneck.
Add the two answers for each area below. Each area is out of 10. Your highest area is your biggest bottleneck. Higher means more pressure on you.
Delegation
Your team keeps needing you. Usually not a people problem. “Done right” was never defined.
- Pick one decision your team brings you every week and hand it off, with a clear picture of what “done right” looks like.
- Before you fix someone’s work, ask them to walk you through it. Coach it once instead of redoing it forever.
Systems
How things get done lives in your head, so every sick day or new hire turns into a fire drill.
- Write down the one process that breaks most when you’re out. A rough checklist beats nothing.
- Ask whoever does a recurring task to record a 5-minute screen video of how they do it. That’s your first training library.
Focus
Your week belongs to whoever yells loudest. The priorities you chose keep sliding to “next week.”
- Block two hours a week to work on the business, and protect it like a client meeting.
- Write your top three priorities for this quarter where you’ll see them every day.
Numbers
You find out how the month went when the bank balance tells you. By then it’s too late to steer.
- Choose two or three numbers that tell you if a week was good (leads, close rate, cash in) and check them every Monday.
- Look at profit and your hours, not just revenue. Growth that costs you more time isn’t the win it looks like.
Follow-through
The same problems keep showing up on the list, because nothing forces them off it.
- Pick the problem you’ve been “meaning to fix” the longest and put a date on it.
- Tell someone what you’re committing to this week. Follow-through goes up when it’s said out loud.
High in two or more?
That’s normal for an owner-run business that grew faster than its systems. It’s also exactly what 1:1 coaching is built to fix.
Three months. One hour a week.
Here’s how your scores move.
My 1:1 coaching starts from this same scorecard. We score all five areas on day one, again at week 6, and again at the end, so you see exactly what changed.
1–2
We find where you really are
A full GROW assessment and your scorecard baseline. Then we pick the one problem worth fixing first.
3–5
We fix the biggest leak
Weekly work on that one problem. The process gets mapped step by step so your team can run it.
6
We check what changed
You re-score all five areas, and we reset priorities based on what actually moved.
7–10
Your team takes over
Routines move to your people. You finally have the conversations you’ve been putting off.
11–12
We lock it in
A final re-score and a full review of what moved, what held, and what’s next.
Want help with your biggest bottleneck?
Book a free 15-minute call and bring this scorecard. I’ll tell you where I’d start, and we’ll see if three months of coaching is the right move. I take on 2 new owners a month, so every client gets my full attention.
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