Most companies do their work backwards. They make products first, then they try to find talented people who can help them sell those products. They write job descriptions and hope someone will apply for the position. They think of employees as costs instead of their biggest advantage.
Smart companies know better. They understand that your people don’t just do the work, they actually work. When you build a business around getting and keeping great people, amazing things happen by themselves. Your products get bigger because talented people work to improve them. Your customers are happier because skilled people listen to them well. And other companies start wondering how you got so far ahead of them.
This isn’t just some nice thinking or a nice strategy. It’s a real way to win in business. Other companies fight over customers, while you’re building something they can’t easily copy, which is a team of great people who love their job and work to improve every day.
Plan Your Team Like You Plan Your Business
Most businesses estimate when it comes to hiring. They take a glance at how many they currently have, add in a few extra positions, and hope for the best. Actual planning is not like that. You must know precisely which jobs cause your business to expand and which ones simply keep it afloat.
Consider where your business will be in three years. What abilities will you require that you lack currently? What jobs will become more important as you expand? What skills may no longer be necessary? You don’t need to get everything right. You need to be intelligent about where you invest your money in hiring.
Successful companies align their people requirements to their business objectives. They recognize that one phenomenal salesperson can be worth more than three mediocre ones. They realize that an exceptional engineer can create things that revolutionize. They prepare for the individuals who will make them stand out, not simply occupy vacant seats in the company chart.
Find Great People Before You Need Them
Waiting until you have a vacancy to search for good people is waiting until you’re hungry to put in a garden. You’re behind by the time you do that. Intelligent hiring is always interviewing great people, even if you don’t have a position for them at the moment.
This means thinking completely differently. Instead of posting jobs and hoping, you’re always looking for people who do amazing work at other companies. You’re getting to know people who might not want to change jobs today but could be perfect for your team later.
The greatest leaders spend one-on-one time every week with potential team members. They’re not poaching people or making job offers immediately. They’re just cultivating relationships and informing great people about the awesome work being done at their company. When the right opportunity becomes available, these relationships become pure gold.
Make Jobs Fit People, Not the Other Way Around
Here’s an idea – when you encounter someone who’s super skilled, build a job that leverages the most they can do rather than putting them into a box you’ve already created. Most businesses lose amazing people because they hold too fast to job descriptions.
One of the most successful hires occurs when you meet someone whose ability doesn’t quite fit into your current infrastructure, but whose ability is clear. Perhaps they’re incredibly technical, but also incredibly creative. Perhaps they know your customers in a way that can make your products soar.
When you create jobs around people rather than forcing people to fit jobs, you find potential you never imagined. You’ve got employees working in areas where they naturally excel rather than trying to do things they are not well suited for. The results speak for themselves – improved work, happier folks, and fresh ideas that come when people do what they do best.
Build Teams Where Everyone is Really Good
Something magical happens when you create a group of possible talent. Outstanding individuals don’t just perform better independently; they make everyone else better as well. They raise the standard, ask better questions, and produce solutions in ways that educate everyone on the team.
It doesn’t mean being a tense place to work. It means being choosy about who you invite into your business and ensuring every new individual makes the entire team more robust. One that is effective is having your most productive employees assist in interviewing new individuals. They are able to recognize others who perform at their level.
When every member of a team is operating at a high level, the overall output is much greater than you’d get if you simply added up what every individual does on their own. Solutions arrive more quickly. Solutions compound upon each other more effectively. New innovations are a natural occurrence because everyone is working at full capacity.
Help People Grow to Grow Your Business
Most training is dry and cookie-cutter. Everyone goes through the same classes and the same online training, regardless of what they wish to learn or where they are in their career. True development is individual and is directly related to what individuals desire and what your business requires.
The ideal way combines three things: difficult work assignments (roughly 70% of learning), assistance from mentors and coaches (roughly 20%), and classroom learning or training (roughly 10%). This is effective because individuals learn best when they’re actually applying new skills to actual circumstances, with guidance from those more knowledgeable.
Stretch assignments are particularly effective. If you assign someone a bit more than they can currently do, but provide them with adequate support and clear expectations, they tend to surprise themselves with what they can do. These experiences strengthen both confidence and skills simultaneously, leading to a positive feedback loop where individuals continue to grow and become more invested.
Make Feedback Flow Openly
Feedback always feels stilted and ineffective because it only occurs during annual review time. Feedback culture really exists in continual, concrete, and useful communication that assists individuals to perform their jobs better in the moment.
Great employees ask for feedback because they are dedicated to doing a better job. They want to know what their work is being received like, how they can improve, and where they should be targeting their development efforts. When you build an environment in which feedback happens naturally in all directions, people begin requesting it rather than shunning it.
This takes training managers to provide feedback effectively and design systems that facilitate continuous communication as easily and naturally. Surveys and frequent check-ins help, but the magic really occurs when feedback is integrated into how work is accomplished, not something additional.
Review Your Team Like You Review Your Business
Every three months, the most intelligent businesses actually do full reviews of their employees. Not old-fashioned performance reviews, but strategic examinations that cause leaders to see who are their best employees are, who has the greatest potential for growth, and who may be considering a departure.
These reviews leverage devices such as grids that graph how well an individual performs compared to their growth potential, and you get a clear picture of your talent landscape. It allows you to make informed decisions on promotions, development investments, and ensuring people are happy. You can recognize your stars, your strong performers, and individuals who may need additional support or alternative roles.
The secret is taking these kinds of reviews and using them to avoid issues rather than simply responding to them. Rather than waiting until someone quits to figure out they were dissatisfied, you notice issues early on and address them carefully. Rather than promoting individuals based on whim, you make thoughtful decisions about who’s qualified for greater responsibilities.
Make People Strategy Part of Business Strategy
In far too many businesses, human resources operates independently of business planning. Decisions about people are being made without consideration of business objectives, creating muddle and lost opportunities. When your people leader is at the strategy table, things are different.
This connection means that big business decisions automatically start conversations about people implications. Expanding to a new market? What skills will we need, and how will we develop or find them? Launching a new product? Who are the key people who need to be involved, and how do we make sure they’re excited and motivated?
It also involves measuring people metrics that have a direct connection to business outcomes. Rather than merely measuring the speed at which you’re hiring or the reason why people complete training, you’re measuring how people initiatives influence revenue, customer satisfaction, innovation, and competitive standing. When business strategy and people strategy are aligned, both become more powerful.
FAQs
1. How do I persuade my boss to invest more in hiring great people?
Make them pay for bad hires. Calculate the time and money wasted when someone leaves or does not perform well. Good employees pay for themselves by lasting longer and performing better.
2. What about large companies that offer higher salaries than we can?
Good people desire more than money. They desire to develop, do meaningful work, and be heard. Small businesses can give you things large ones cannot, such as true opportunities to make decisions and observe your influence.
3. How can I identify good people in an interview?
Find individuals who ask intelligent questions regarding your company and are able to give you concrete examples about issues they have resolved. Avoid individuals who give vague answers or give excuses for why things did not work out.
4. Should I give a job to someone who is too qualified for the position?
Yes, if you can provide them with space to develop soon. Just be upfront about what the job is presently and what it might eventually turn into. Ensure they truly desire it, rather than need any job.
5. How soon before I will see returns from concentrating on talent?
You will see some differences within a few months, but the significant difference generally appears after a year or so. Good people are slow to settle in and leave their mark.
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