If you’ve spent more than a few minutes with an Aileron coach or community member, you’ve likely heard about professional management and how it can help you lead with confidence to build a sustainable, thriving organization.
We define professional management as a systematic way to run a business. Specifically, we use the Aileron DOC System of Professional Management to help business owners work on their business, not just in it.
Our DOC System of Professional Management is a framework of three core activities and six building blocks to support them:
Like our strategic planning approach, you won’t find a one-size-fits-most method for professional management at Aileron. Instead, we use the DOC System to assess each area of your business, uncover opportunities, and help you move forward on what matters most to you.
How do you implement professional management?
Many Aileron community members first engage with our professional management services in the Course for Presidents®. During CFP, business owners examine their specific work in the business; it’s common for responses to include everything from “achieve yearly goals” and “manage risks” to “allocate resources” and “drive growth.”
Then, CFP attendees work with our team to unpack common and infrequent tasks using the DOC System of professional management. How do those tasks support your vision? What’s working – and what’s not? What processes or innovations are overlooked in favor of addressing immediate needs? What parts of developing a team are tough? What feels unsustainable? Where are you succeeding?
Using the Aileron DOC System to address those questions – and more! – empowers leaders to identify and address areas of their business that need their attention without losing sight of the rest of the business. The result is a future-oriented focus that emphasizes working on the business instead of only in it.
Why does professional management matter?
New community members often tell us it’s tough to plan for the future when they are addressing customer needs and developing their teams in the present. The most urgent – not always the most important – tasks absorb their focus and leave little energy for innovative thinking or life outside the business.
By using professional management, our community members stay focused on priority items that yield the business results – and ultimately the lifestyles – they want.
The benefits of the Aileron system of professional management extend beyond the business. Community members often tell us they are better partners and parents because of the professional management strategies they’ve learned. Many members have shared their balanced approach to leading with other business owners, creating a ripple effect of leading well personally and professionally.
Learning and leading with the Aileron DOC System of Professional Management is an investment in your confidence and ability to manage well, and also in the well-being of your employees, your family, and your community.
This post reflects our latest thinking on professional management. To see how far our thinking’s come, see the original version of this post from 2018.
