Smart entrepreneurs know that the best way to create a great company is by surrounding themselves with talented people. While the image of a visionary singlehandedly disrupting entire industries is a romantic notion, the reality is that every single entrepreneur in the public eye achieved their successes with the support of a strong team.
While there is some merit to operating with a small team, you’ll likely find that there will eventually be a need for some help. You’ll want to hire people to suit your needs, but don’t ignore strong talent if it seeks you out. Part of being an entrepreneur is adapting and making the best of the tools you’ve been given, and hedging out strong candidates because they don’t perfectly fit the job can weaken your team down the line.
It is still important to subdivide as your business gets larger. Identify individuals that are strong in areas you need, and segment everything you will need, from finance to sales to development. You’ll be able to be more specific as time goes on. When sourcing help, it is often beneficial to connect with local professional organizations. Integrating your business into the community can create a mutually beneficial relationship and help you find top talent in the area.
And far beyond whatever town or city you have chosen to establish yourself, strive to recruit from around the country or even around the world. Differing perspectives make a big impact on your company’s leadership and business decisions.
But once you’ve established your team, expanding and finding success as a company, the struggle is not over. In fact, complacency when it comes to your team can lead to disaster in the long term. Keeping good employees is an investment, something that some companies fail to grasp as they try to expand.
Investing in your employees can take many different forms. Expanded internal and external training programs, improve your compensation to be competitive in your industry of choice, and improve your workplace culture. Employee turnover can be highly costly for a company, and setting them up for success can lead to innovation in the future. It’s all about giving them the tools they need to excel.
This should be personalized for every employee. Tailoring education and improvement for each employee can be far more beneficial than offering generic training for everyone. Identify areas of weakness and areas of strength, and train to capitalize on both.
From there, companies should strive to monitor and measure the improvement of their employees. This can be difficult, as an obsession with metrics can be ultimately destructive and micromanagerial. Instead, choose a few key areas of improvement and focus on them. And training, like recruiting, should not be a one-time process. Keep up cycles of training and improvement for new and veteran employees. Even beyond formal training initiatives, forums for team members to collaborate, share findings, and learn from each other are useful for professional development.
All of this contributes to creating a culture of growth and improvement. That should even extend to the attitudes of leaders—learn to focus on the prowess of a team rather than their shortcomings. Ultimately, creating and empowering a successful team varies depending on the company and the sensibilities of those that lead them. These guidelines can help propel a company to success—after all, it’s only as good as its people.