Finding and keeping good people in your organization - this has been one of the top 3 business challenges that I have seen in all of my 20 years of being a business coach. And I'm sorry to report that the time period we are in right now is the worst. The challenge has dramatically jumped up in intensity over the past 18-24 months.
Don’t worry, this isn’t exactly bad news. What I’m seeing are businesses gaining growth momentum, which means they are expanding. This occurs when consistent opportunities are available. That is a good trend. We also have one of the lowest unemployment rates we've seen in nearly 50 years. All of this ads up and elevates the challenge of finding and keeping good people.
So, how do we handle this challenge in today's market? There are three basic focal points to finding and keeping good people in your organization and each of them builds upon the previous:
The first focal point is what I call the Foundational Elements to Finding and Keeping Good People in your Organization. These are the building blocks. I am seeing more and more companies put an emphasis on these foundational elements, but not enough. If you want to build a business that pays your bills, this isn’t completely necessary. I’d say the vast majority of businesses do not focus on this part of their business and they do OK. However, if you want growth AND if you actually want to be able to develop a business that provides you the opportunity of time and freedom, then setting up these foundations will help to make that a heck of a lot easier. Click here to view the Foundational Elements to Finding and Keeping Good People in your Organization.
The second focal point, once you have the Foundational Elements in place, is becoming a Master of Enrollment. People do not necessarily operate in black or white, in or out, yes or no, binary experiences. We have varying degrees of how much we are interested in something. Being a master at enrollment is about being able to gauge the level to which someone is committed to a particular outcome, desire, or result and then being able to appropriately influence, inspire, or enroll them to the next level. It's a crucial skill that all leaders posses. The better you are at enrollment the better people you will have and the more productive your team will be.
The third focal point then is Creating an Inspirational Culture. With your foundational elements in place and a well-trained and strong enrollment skill, then you have what you need to really develop a culture where leaders bloom from within, team members become self-enrolling, problems get solved correctly without your involvement, and the business develops itself like you always imagined it could.
So, your challenge for this month is simple: Make a decision…Do I keep running the business with a revolving door of staff, tolerating people on my team who suck my energy dry, won’t solve problems, won’t take ownership and have no loyalty, OR do I build a culture where strong leaders are compelled to work and allow me the opportunity of time freedom to build a business of my dreams?
Simple challenge this month. Just a decision. Then of course comes the next step… (To Be Continued)
~Coach Troy