By Laurie Drummond, Certified Two-Brain Business Mentor
If you’re like me, you’ve experienced a bad hire before.
What led to the problem?
- Maybe you hired a friend or family member because you already had a connection.
- Maybe your hire did great in the interview, but you didn’t check references.
- Maybe you hired someone because you liked the person in the interview, but the applicant’s skills or personality didn’t fit the actual role.
- Maybe you hired someone too quickly because you really just needed someone—anyone—to help!
These are all common practices, but that doesn’t mean they are best practices.
The Difference Hiring Right Can Make
What if you had an amazing team on board because you had hand-selected your staff based on what your business needs to achieve your goals?
What if your team members loved coming to work? What if they embraced new ideas, they welcomed change, they felt like their work was rewarding, and there was a great dynamic among them?
Hiring the right team can not only change the dynamics of your workplace but it can also free up your time to work on higher-value roles, go on a holiday or spend more time with your family. It can even allow you to contemplate the possibility of “functional retirement.”
Determining What Roles You Really Need
Before you can build a team that actually helps move your business toward its goals, you have to know what those goals are.
As business owners, we steer the ship, so we need to know where we are heading and who we need to help us get there. Every team member has a specific role, and each person must have the skills and training to help us fulfill our vision.
Here are some questions to consider:
1. Think about what you’d like your business to look like. What struggles do you currently have that you’d like to end? What works well? What could work better?
2. Think about what is blocking you from growing. Are you stalled because you are spending so much time on smaller tasks that you have no time to work toward your vision? Or maybe your revenue is too low. What—or more importantly, who—could help your business make more money?
3. Think about your strengths and your weaknesses. What part of your work do you enjoy doing? What part do you hate?
4. What tasks on your to-do list could be done by someone else to free you up for something else? Do you need an administrator, personal trainer, sales assistant or cleaner? If you are filling those or other roles now, keep track of how much time you spend on them each day or week. That will tell you how many hours a new hire would need to work if you handed off the duties.
5. What are the current gaps in your business? What tasks are not being fulfilled?
The Courage to Grow
While the idea of hiring a new staff member can be overwhelming—especially if you are struggling financially—hiring might be necessary for your business to grow.
Look at hiring as an investment: How many hours per week could you gain by handing off jobs to someone else? How would this free you up to work on higher-value roles, like marketing, sales or PT? How would it impact your family life to have more free time?
Having the right vision for your business will make the journey much smoother. Set it, then search for the people who can help you make your vision reality.
Other Media in This Series
“How to Hire the Right Person”
“How to Pay Your Staff: Task Rate Vs. Hourly Rate”
“Recruiting and Retaining Coaches: Beating the ‘Great Resignation’”
