Blacksheep Mind Get the book, $12

A Blacksheep Mind web book · Leading the business

Everything this place knows is still in your head.

Nine steps to get what you know out of your head and into your staff, so one missed shift, one leaver or one new tool doesn’t land back on you. For owners with a few staff to a couple of dozen.

How to Build a Future-Ready Team for Your Business. A team that runs the place and keeps up without you.

The cover of How to Build a Future-Ready Team for Your Business.
A web book: read it online and download a copy. Nothing is posted to you.
Chapters
9
Tools
3
Reading
52 min
Price
$12
Get the book, $12

Read it tonight on your phone or laptop. One price, no upsells. No refunds: you get the whole book straight away.

The moment

You took a day off. Your phone didn’t.

  • The shift you covered because nobody else knows how to close.
  • The good one who left with everything you taught them.
  • The new booking system that only you know how to use.
  • The list of things you’ll write down when it calms down.

It never calms down. Nine steps, a little each week, and the place starts to run on more than your memory.

What’s inside

Nine steps, in the order you’ll do them

  1. 01

    Find Out What Only You Know

    Map every job, and spot the ones that stop when you’re away.

  2. 02

    Name the Skills Your Team Will Need Next

    Look a year ahead: what will your staff need to know that nobody knows yet?

  3. 03

    Write Down How the Work Gets Done

    One page per job that matters, in plain words, where everyone can find it.

  4. 04

    Hire People Who Can Learn

    Describe the job honestly, try people out fairly, and ask the questions that show how someone learns.

  5. 05

    Plan Their First Two Weeks

    A simple plan so a new person is useful in days, not months.

  6. 06

    Teach Every Job to Two People

    No job lives in one head, including yours.

  7. 07

    Learn New Tools Together

    Try one new tool properly, as a team, without it all landing on you.

  8. 08

    Give Good People a Reason to Stay

    Small, steady things that keep your best people from leaving.

  9. 09

    Step Back One Day at a Time

    Your first day away, planned, so it stays quiet.

Plus a short introduction and a four-week plan to finish. 9 chapters, about 52 minutes to read.

A page from the book

One job, two people, no drama

Step 6 · from the book, word for word

Teach Every Job to Two People

A case

The Friday the grill cook didn’t come in

Declan runs a restaurant with 12 staff. One Friday his only grill cook was out, so Declan worked the grill all night. Nobody ran the floor: tables waited for their bills, a booking of eight gave up on dessert, and he got home after 1am. His first reflex was to find a second grill cook. Instead he made Tuesday afternoons, the quiet hours before dinner, the teaching slot. Each week, one person learned one station next to the person who runs it, with the one-page way in their hand, and kept coming back to it on the following Tuesdays until they could do it with the teacher only watching. Marisol, a server who’d always been curious about the kitchen, learned the grill first, and her name went on the skills map beside it. By the sixth week every station had a second person. The next time someone was out, Marisol took the grill and Declan stayed on the floor.

What to do
  1. Open your skills map and circle every job with only one name next to it. Put the one that would close you fastest at the top.
  2. Pick one quiet slot a week, the same day and time, and call it teaching time. Put it on the schedule so it’s paid.
  3. For the first job, pair a learner who wants it with the person who does it best, and give them the one-page way.
  4. Take them through the four steps: watch, together, watched, teach it back. Fix the page wherever the teach-back stumbles.
  5. When they can do it with the teacher only watching, write their name on the skills map and start the next job.
What to say
Instead of

“Just watch how she does it.”

Try

“This week you’ll do it with her watching you, not the other way around.”

Try

“When you’ve got it, you’ll show the next person. That’s how we’ll know it’s written down right.”

The Who can do what worksheet in the web book, on a phone, with an example filled in.
Who can do what, with a made-up example
The one-page way template in the web book, on a phone.
One job, written down on one page

The tools

The three sheets you’ll keep

  • WorksheetWho can do whatEvery job, who can do it, and which ones stop when you’re away. About 20 minutes.
  • Fill-in templateThe one-page wayOne job written down: what good looks like, the steps, and where things are kept (never the codes themselves).
  • WorksheetThe while-I’m-away sheetWho’s in charge, what they can decide and spend, and when to call you. For your first day off.
The while-I’m-away worksheet in the web book, part filled in with an example.
The while-I’m-away sheet, with a made-up example

Who it’s for

For owners who still work the floor

For you if

  • You run a cafe, bakery, restaurant, salon, shop, small trades crew or small studio, with a few staff.
  • Every missed shift or leaver lands back on you.
  • You keep meaning to write things down.
  • You want a day off that stays off.

Not for you if

  • You have an HR department or a people team.
  • You want a legal guide to contracts, pay or letting people go. It covers those in general terms and tells you when to check your local rules.
  • You want a book about how to think and talk as a leader. That’s our 5 Ways of Thinking to Be a Better Leader.
Get the book, $12

9 steps · 3 sheets · read tonight

Your questions

Before you buy

I only have three staff. Is this for me?

Yes, if even one job stops when you’re away. The steps are the same, the lists are shorter.

Is this a book about AI?

One step of nine is about how your staff learn new tools, AI included. The rest is about people, jobs and writing things down. You don’t need any software.

Will it help me hire?

It covers how to describe the job, where to look, a fair paid try-out and the questions that show how someone learns. It can’t promise you’ll find someone this month.

Does it cover contracts, pay and letting people go?

Only in general terms. Wherever the law matters, it tells you to check your local rules or ask an adviser.

How long does it take?

About 52 minutes to read. The first sheet takes about 20 minutes. The plan at the end runs over four weeks, a little each week.

I have the leader book. Is this the same?

No. That book is about how you think and talk as a leader. This one is about building the team: who you hire, what’s written down, who can cover what, and how it runs without you.

How to Build a Future-Ready Team for Your Business

Get it out of your head this month.

$12one price, no upsells
Get the book, $12

A web book: read it online and download a copy. Nothing is posted to you. No refunds: you get the whole book straight away.