If you are in a leadership and managerial, position, you have a great opportunity to select and hire the best talent possible.
I’ve been very fortunate as a leader, to have hired 70% or better of the team’s that I have led and managed
The advantages of hiring your team are obvious. First of all, you get to hand pick whom you believe can be the best addition to your team. Conversely, if it doesn’t work out, you only have yourself to blame.
There are several important elements to building your team:
1. Select and hire your team. You will need to select a few trusted, willing and able individuals. Jesus selected 12 disciples. It is important to select the best and most suitable individuals to run your business. Selecting the most suitable persons doesn’t necessarily mean they must have Wharton MBA’s. There are intangibles that cannot be replaced by pedigree or degrees from top schools. Those chosen need to have passion, motivation, vision, belief, and aptitude, to do the job at hand.
2. Train them. You will need to train them to perform to the level you expect in order to meet goals. Jesus taught his disciples how to pray, cast out demons, and heal the sick. The disciples were even around when Jesus multiplied the fishes and the bread. He performed these miracles around his disciples not so that they could be amazed at his power, but to realize that the same power that would soon conquer the grave lived in them.
3. Spend time with the selected few. Jesus spent time with his disciples in prayer, during the last supper, and in normal day-in and day-out scenarios. As a leader you will need to spend time with your team. I lead a virtual team so I don’t necessarily see each one of my team members on a daily basis. I hold bi-weekly conference calls with each one of my team members, and spend one day, face to face, every two months. One last point about spending time with your team members – don’t make it all about business.
4. Encourage your team. I do quite a bit of encouraging of my team members. One of the ways I encourage them is by honoring them in front of their peers when a good customer satisfaction score is received. This also reinforces your expectations, and makes others aware of what gets rewarded.
What are other ways you can think of to build your team?
Great list Juan!
I would add finding and then having team members work in areas of strengths. Each team member should be working in areas of their greatest strengths and skills. Great post!
Dan, great addition, “work areas of strength”. Thanks for sharing.