You’ll never reach your vision and goals without the help of others. Your greatest asset is people ó the “right” people.
People who share your company’s values, ethics, personality, culture and vision. Your primary objective is to get the right people on your ship, the wrong people off and then direct the course of the ship yourself. The critical success factors for your company and your top responsibility as the leader are recruiting, training/ coaching, developing and retaining your competent employees.
What employees want to hear from you:
Where the company is headed and why.
What their roles and responsibilities are, and what expectations you have of them.
How they will be evaluated and rewarded.
That their talents will be used in the best way possible.
That their work and ideas matter.
That they will be challenged, motivated and held accountable.
That they will have the right tools, training and authority to do their jobs.
That they can contribute in a meaningful way to the company and its mission.
That they can grow and develop to reach their potential.
That you will be an emotionally connected, competent manager/leader who will support their success.
Tips for hiring/firing
Hire for talent, not just resumé data. Be sure to hire emotionally engaged people, people with passion in their eyes, fire in the belly.
Make sure you read their hearts first then match their talent to the position.
Never hire someone without doing a reference check first and only talk to his or her previous bosses.
While you should hire people slowly, fire them quickly if they do not fit your culture and can’t operate within your system. Do not let emotionally disengaged people or negative people infect your company. Don’t waste time and energy trying to rehabilitate poor performers (the lower 20 percent that cause 80 percent of your headaches). Spend your time and effort with your top performers, the top 20 percent. This group will produce 80 percent of your company’s results.
Put tremendous effort into developing and retaining the right people. For your business to grow, you must find and develop the right people.
Because you can’t control everything, the development of your system and your people is paramount. Spend time and effort hiring the right people to manage your system.
Hire excellent leaders and managers. Then let your managers hire competent employees to work the system. They should hire hard working and loyal people who will follow the system and execute their duties according to documented practices. Employees’ focus should be on working the system and improving the operations manual, as necessary.
Contact Mark Dipple at m.dipple@thegrowthcoach.