Build a Team You Can be Proud of

The Challenge

With so much legislation about what can and cannot happen during the hiring process. Acquiring new staff can seem overwhelming to small or medium sized businesses.

This challenge doesn’t exclude big business. Yet the risk of hiring an employee remains greater for smaller companies.

Small Business is the Most at Risk

In reality the incorrect hire can have a huge impact on a small business. Small things whittling away at viability.

Productivity less than expected.
Employee disengaged. (Spends time at work focused on personal life)
Unexpressed negativity towards company values and goals.

More serious issues include:

Stating some untrue competence on CV which the business then expects and relies on.
Expressing negativity of company to colleagues.
Outright criminality.

In the case of a small business, lack of expected production by an employee often has a direct result on profits.

In those cases where an employer dismisses the employee as a result. It can occur that these ex employees approach state funded organizations.

At which stage the business must defend itself at it's own cost. While the ex employee is funded by the state.

The question then becomes, not will they lose, but rather how much will they lose during this process.

This is not a fiction, it is a reality. And the small business is the most at risk in that scenario.

Laws are set up to protect as many people, from as many walks of life as possible. In this big picture there is no room for blame, or he was wrong and I was right, only the laws as written count. If the small business doesn't know those laws they are vulnerable.

When in Doubt, Consult

Ending up with an ex employee at a state institution only means one thing. The business owner is inexperienced!

Which indicates if nothing else, that there should be (but seldom is) a school for business owners.

However there is little to no discrimination against who can and can not register a business.

Anyone can start a business, as long as they meet very basic legal requirements.

The solution is that business owners take real responsibility for how they manage their companies and how they go about hiring their staff.

Which means besides running their companies they should also be learning.

In the case of business owners and entrepreneurs this is often best achieved through consultation. With those who are successful in the same field.

You Will Need a Team!

How you grow your business is your business, but you will need a team.

They are the people that will grow your business.

Your Goals Count

What would you be able to do with a staff that supported you and your goals?

A team that believed in your business, i.e. You!

A team like that does not walk in the door, you, your personality, your goals and visions are not generic.

Regardless of who you are, if you have a business that’s survived more than a few years. Then the fact is, that you are doing something right.

That thing or 'things' you are doing has resulted in income, for you and your staff.

The fact of this is that there are people who owe their very livelihood to you and who you are right now. Don’t let anyone deceive you into thinking otherwise or make it seem less important.

Finding The Right Team

The solution lies with you. Take responsibility. Eliminate focusing on how tough things are.

Great people are people not robots, not slaves. You’re in this to achieve a goal/s and make money, great. But your people are also in it to achieve a goal/s and make money.

Don’t stand in their way, open a door, even if it’s a crack. Use commission. Be careful not to reward lackluster performance.

Make your staff work. It doesn’t have to be fair, but it does need to make sense. There does need to be opportunity involved.

A Win Win Game

Achieving your goals requires winning on many levels. Closing that big deal. Boosting production. Winning or losing at these day to day activities is what business is all about.

While you're focused on that big goal and the rewards it brings don't neglect your staff.

While you might think that it’s not your job to make your staff wealthy. Don’t be surprised when they take their good ideas, their passion and beliefs and your training, somewhere else.

When you fail to recognize and reward the abilities of a great team member you are stunting your own growth.

Reward Achievers and Penalize Under Achievers

Build a culture at the office.

Reward staff that produce in excess of what they were hired to.

But if the guy or gal is a clock watcher, you have someone on the team who is not a part of the team.

They're at work for the pay, they're interested in their own lives, lives by the way that your money pays for.

When you find that, realize that you need to step up your control, either inspire these people into being at work and giving their best efforts at work, over and above what is expected or find someone who will.