Six Responsibilities a Christian Business Owner Cannot Delegate to Anyone Else

In Bowen Family Theory, differentiation is all about defining yourself relative to others around you. When a person differentiates themselves within a family system, the anxiety and conflict in that system tend to dissipate over time. The role of defining oneself is central to creating boundaries that inform others where your persona and work begin and end – the areas that you control and those you do not.

I will submit that one of the best things a new Christian business owner can do as they start their business is to define themselves relative to the other roles in their company. In simple terms, you can think of this differentiation as the new Christian business owner defining their swim lane and then staying within it.

A business can be viewed as a complex family structure, comprising many members. While “family” might be too strong a term, Bowen’s concept of differentiation and Cloud’s concepts around boundaries are helpful for a new Christian business owner as they embark on their journey to start and grow their business.

In many privately held businesses, most processes and decisions are routed through the owner. While this might seem like a good idea to the owner - and it may be a necessity in the early phases of the start-up - the reality is that when all processes and most decisions route through the owner over time, you’ll find an owner who lacks personal boundaries. That lack of boundaries creates an unhealthy fusion in work relationships, where employees don’t know where the owner’s role ends and their role (and value) begins.

This lack of role clarity creates conflict within the organization. It also limits the organization’s ability to grow. For example, the owner hires a competent Sales Manager, yet the manager must “check in” with the owner to obtain “sign off” on simple decisions, such as which salespeople attend which show or what percentage of discount is to be applied to an individual sale.

You can see how demoralizing and demeaning it would be for the Sales Manager. I can easily understand why the manager might become combative and challenging to work with when they disagree with one or more of the owner’s decisions. The manager is trying to determine where the owner’s role ends and the manager’s role begins. Tension and conflict may escalate because the owner keeps trying to swim in everyone’s swim lane.

So, if you’re coming into a new setting as the CEO, Christian business owner, President, Pastor, or leader—especially one in which there might be high conflict—then one of the best things you can do is to define yourself and your role. Overtly articulate the areas you will control and the areas you plan to have others control. Such articulation will help calm the waters and reset the organization, clarifying what to expect from your position.

Six Responsibilities

In any business or ministry leadership position, I believe six things cannot come off the leader’s plate. I’ll describe these five elements from the perspective of a Christian business owner in a for-profit business, but all of these elements can be applied well to ministry roles.

Public Ambassador for the organization

This role doesn’t mean that all exterior relationships route through the Christian business owner (CBO), but it does mean that the CBO is the ultimate representative of the business.

Culture

Culture is a combination of core values and core processes. How we treat each other as we perform our core duties results in the organization’s culture. Regardless of what the CBO says, does, and how they treat other people, these actions will set the culture for the organization. The CBO must embody the stated core values; otherwise, they will become worthless. Just read Snakes in Suits if you’d like a further treatment of this topic.

Vision

The Christian business owner, in conjunction with senior management and the Board of Directors, sets the vision for the organization. Answering the question “Where are we going and why?” gives purpose and direction to the organization.

Risk mitigation

No one can mitigate risk like the CBO because no one has the power to make broad decisions like the CBO. I recall that when Paul O’Neill became CEO of Alcoa, he told the unions that he would negotiate anything they wanted, except for safety. How could the union disagree? As a result, Paul was able to drive better safety and higher profits. Only a CEO can make this kind of a decision and set this type of broad, company-wide boundary.

Holding Senior Management Accountable

Again, only the CBO can hold the next layer of managers in the organization accountable to achieve their goals and directives.

Spiritual warfare on behalf of the business.

Only a Christian business owner will get this one, but often, problems and conflicts arise due to the enemy attempting to sow discord and dissention between staff members. If a conflict or problem seems to come out of left field, consider that as the Christian business owner, you are uniquely positioned to fight for your business in the spiritual realm.

Given this list, I would advise new Christian business owners to define what they do in these broad terms: They mitigate risk, lead the effort in developing a vision, live out the culture, and hold others accountable to live out the same culture, among other responsibilities. Underneath all of this is the CBO’s ability to connect authentically, to see things as they are (not as they wish they were), to be growing professionally, and to face the negative by tackling conflict and problems as soon as they arise. If you’re coming into a new position of leadership – whether it is a team, project, department, division, or even a company – you’re welcome to use these ideas to help you get established in your new role. I would also recommend two books by Henry Cloud: Integrity and Boundaries for Leaders. You’ll be glad you read them.