Growing a business is one of those things that can be a little difficult to understand exactly what a company is. I remember watching an interview with Sir Richard Branson once and he said, “A company is just people.” And you know, it couldn’t be truer than that and that’s all a company is. It’s a bunch of people working together to achieve a common goal.
Getting the right people on the bus
So it’s vitally important that if you’re going to succeed in business you need to have the right people on the bus. One of the things that I see quite often in business is I see people whinging and whining about the team that they’ve got, but they’re not doing anything about it. They’re not trying to improve those people, they’re not trying to move them on to go and find the right people. It’s not very profound, but if you’re not looking you’re not going to find. So if you’re happy to keep the wrong people in your organization and you’re not out there looking for the right people, then you probably deserve the people that you’ve got. It’s that simple.
T-E-A-M
My theory with building a team is that a team is together and they have got to work together. So “Together Everyone Achieves More,” which is that acronym for TEAM and you want to have the right people on the team. Because as soon as you get somebody who’s not working towards achieving the same goal, then they’re going to drag everybody back.
I think about it like this. Imagine you’ve got a team of 20 people rowing a boat and you’ve got one person who’s thrown an anchor over the back who’s not rowing. Well that could stop the other 19 people from succeeding. So it’s very important that you have the right people on the bus.
Hire slow and fire fast
It’s very important that you learn how to recruit the right people. Now I’m not going to go into depth here on recruiting, but I’ll give you a few tips and it’s important that you hire slow and you fire fast.
Think about it… If you have got a problem with somebody and you can’t get them up-to-speed, move them on. If they’re not right for your business move them on, as painful as it can be. Sometimes it can be super painful because you’re going to have to do extra work, it’s going to upset some customers, but long term if you know it’s the right thing just move them on.
And hire slow, which is what I said in the beginning. Hire slow, fire fast. What do I mean by that? Take your time hiring. If you interview a bunch of people and there’s no one there you like, don’t hire the best of a bad bunch. It’s the worst mistake that you can make. Continue to search for the right person. And on that note, be continually looking for great people that can join your team.
Remember
A company is just a bunch of people working towards a common goal that they’re all excited about achieving. I think if you understand the fundamentals of building a team and that’s that you need to be a great leader to build a great team because that’s what great leaders do. They build great teams and a great team will then build a great business.
I think that’s the fundamentals of succeeding in your business… It’s about getting the right people on your bus. That’s the key to building a great business!
About the Author
Ben Fewtrell is a sought-after Business Coach, Keynote Speaker and trainer who has featured in Virgin’s Inflight Magazine and Entertainment Portal, SKY Business and “Secrets of Top Business Builders Exposed”. He is also the host of the popular Business Brain Food Podcast where he interviews leading experts on anything and everything business.
