As a follow-up to my previous five posts on the How to Hire the Best strategies and in preparing for our Leadership Bootcamp this fall, I want to emphasize the importance of people and leading A-Players. Aside from time as your greatest resource, it’s how you utilize this time and whom you trust to manage the tasks and time at hand. Let’s face it, as entrepreneurs we are constantly striving for a level of fulfillment. You know what I’m talking about. Remember that feeling? The drive that once fueled us to begin this journey? It is a constant and powerful tugging to get back to this root of what drives us now, so we can continue to grow or pivot—maintaining our purpose.
Below is an excerpt from my book How to Hire the Best that talks more about finding and leading A-Players and how we can foster them and their drive, while serving one another.
If you are like most owners, you watch your bottom line closely. Payroll is typically one of the largest expenses. Although payroll is an expense in our financial statements, the team members behind that payroll are assets when they are A-Players. They are responsible for leading your company into the future. Whether they are productive or not, they will determine your future. The more you invest in your A-Players, the better your future will be.
With that in mind, compare your mindset on team building with your mindset on investing in new equipment or a stock in your investment portfolio. Do you research equipment before buying it? If you choose a lower-quality piece of equipment, do you blame the equipment when it breaks down, or do you try to make a better choice next time?
What about stocks in your investment portfolio? Do you just pick any stock, or do you try to find quality ones you believe will give you the best return, even if it costs more per share than other stocks?
A-Player team members are not an expense.
They are an investment. You invest payroll, leadership, training, and other time and money into your team. You also invest in your team members by listening to them and continuing to invest in improving the tools, systems, and processes you provide to support your team, even when times are tough.
Investing what you can in leading A-Players at all times helps you build deep relationships with them. Don’t turn your back on them when things go south. When things are better, they will still remember that you did not have their backs. That will make them just loyal enough to stay until they find a better offer.
If you expect your team to be accountable to you in good times and bad, you need to be accountable to them as well.
Hiring team members is an investment, and it’s up to us as business owners to make sure that investment is worth it. If we hire the right person, they’re an investment that’s worth it. If we hire the wrong person, they are an expense, costing us time and money. The better you become at investing in the right team members and developing them, the more productive and engaged they will be and the better your return on investment will be. If you don’t, your payroll can also be the source of a significant hidden profit bleed—employee disengagement.
To invest in your own dreams—and further invest in your business—first invest in your people, the right people. Those people who are of service to the company and can see the vision. They have dreams too, and there’s a wonderful magic that happens when you can not only see the spark in their eyes, but feel it. That is the point when a team of believers begin to work together to meet (and celebrate) a common goal. And kudos to you… where it all began. This is BIG.
Consider our Leadership Bootcamp for your Leading A-Players!
