Run Your Business Like You’re Going on Maternity (or Paternity) Leave

How well does your company run when you don’t show up for work?  

The answer to this question has a significant impact on the value of your business. Suppose your  company could survive your absence for a while. In that case, you will score well on something  referred to as “Hub & Spoke,” a driver in increasing your company’s value. 

To understand the Hub & Spoke value driver, visualize a big airport like Chicago’s O’Hare or  London’s Heathrow. They act as a centralized routing location for the airlines that rely on them. The system works efficiently enough until a snowstorm shuts down a hub and the entire  transportation system grinds to a halt. 

Now imagine you’re the hub, and you run your business with important issues coming through  you. It’s efficient right up until the point you are no longer there to run things, which is why  anyone valuing your business will levy a steep discount. 

The trick to removing yourself is to document your standard operating procedures so your  employees have instructions for how you want things done when you’re not around. 

How a Maternity Leave Created a Business That Was Built to Sell 

Just like many young couples, Ben and Ariel Zvaifler got a puppy and found themselves trying  to figure out how to train their new dog. They also wanted to understand what toys and food they  needed. The couple figured they weren’t alone and decided to launch PupBox, a subscription box for new puppy owners. 

Ariel Zvaifler was responsible for operations, among other things. She took great care in  selecting products and merchandising them inside each PupBox. She even considered details  around how each package would be shipped and how it felt when the customer received their  PupBox. 

When Ariel found out she was pregnant with the couple’s second child, she set to work  documenting her standard operating procedures. She put together instructions for her staff  describing how to order products, merchandise each item, and ship boxes. It took Ariel six  months to document everything, but by the time she was ready to give birth, PupBox was  prepared to run without her. 

These standard operating procedures were a big part of how PupBox grew and why the giant pet retailer, Petco, acquired PupBox in 2017. 

How to Get Your Company to Run Without You 

Start by breaking down your job into tasks, and then prepare instructions for your team so that  they can follow your standard operating procedures when you’re not there. 

Test your team’s knowledge by taking a couple of vacation days to see where your processes  have holes. Plug the gaps with more details, and then take a more extended vacation. Keep  lengthening your time away from work and tweaking things upon your return so that by the time  you’re done, your company can handle your extended absence, similar to a maternity or paternity leave. 

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