Who is on your team – Taking on Employees
In the current global economic climate, there are thousands and thousands of people who are competing for just a few jobs. So, when you are business owner:
- What are you to do when you are looking for new employees?
- How do you choose who gets the job?
- How do you figure out who are the best employees for a business?
- How can you prove they can do what they say they can do?
A good example to follow would be the example of Henry Ford. When Mr. Ford hired his employees, he didn’t surround himself with people that he wanted to simply boss around. He surrounded himself with people who knew things that he didn’t know and who could advise him. He identified the gaps in his knowledge and experience and filled it with other peoples knowledge. The result was a phenomenal growth for Ford at the start of the 21st Century and a business that is still around today. It’s not too hard to see how good his tactics for hiring employees for a business were.
Here are two steps that should be taken when you hire employees for a business.
1) Identify Your Weaknesses
Like Henry Ford, the first thing that you have to do is to figure out what your weaknesses are. You may be the owner of the business, but that doesn’t mean that you have to do everything yourself, nor should you. Ultimately, you will create success by using other peoples time and skills. What is there about your business that you don’t know? Maybe you aren’t mechanically inclined. Maybe you need someone that can advertise for you. Identifying your weaknesses doesn’t mean that you are weak. It just means that you are admitting that you know that there is someone who is better for the job and that is going to help your business to be a success.
When I am mentoring and coaching business owners, the first step I ask them to do is to sit down and make a list of what they are unable to do themselves. You need to do the same. Be honest with yourself about what your weaknesses are. After all, this is your business that you are talking about. You want the best for your business, and although you may be able to do some things, there may be things that you have to turn to others for help. Think leverage, leverage, leverage – and more leverage. Your business is like your child. If you can’t help your child or if there is something that you can’t do for them, you turn to others for help. Your wealth is a function of doing what you are passionate about. Let others do that which you are not passionate about.
2) Find People to Fill Spots
The second thing that you want to do when you are looking for employees for your business is to find people to fill the spots that you can’t fill yourself. Again, you should not be embarrassed if there is something that you can’t do yourself. That is what employees are for. The MORE specific you are when you advertise, the better quality Employee you will get. Don’t jump at the first. Qualify them. Test them in the interview. Give them a real task to see how they perform.
Even though some business owners think that they need to do everything themselves, they don’t have to and they shouldn’t have to. Each owner of a business needs to sit down and take a look inside themselves, and figure out what it is that they can’t, and more importantly, do not want to do personally for their business. Once they have that figured out, they can go about finding employees for their business that will fill in those gaps and contribute to consistent and measurable growth.
Years ago I asked my accountant and a friend who is an entreprenuer what was the greatest challenge for small businesses as they started to expand. They both replied, taking on employees – and then they smiled. Don’t underestimate this process. I have had some good experiences in this area and so really bad ones. Get it right. It is a tough process having to let people go, especially when it was a result of poor selection on your part.
