By Mike Heffner
What do all great companies have in common? Sometimes they have good products or good services, but I have never heard of a successful company that sustained greatness without having good people. Good people are a product of good leadership, and good leadership knows how to put those good people into the right seats where they can be successful. A company is successful when they have good people in the right jobs being led by good leaders.
However, you don’t just luck into having a good team and good leaders. I believe it starts by focusing on these four areas:
Strong core values – Having the right core values helps with hiring, coaching and decision making. Core values serve as a guiding light – pointing every employee on the team in the same direction.
Good leaders personally live out the values every day and set a positive example for others. This behavior allows them to hold the team accountable and attract other likeminded individuals.
When good people match up with good leaders and everyone is living out the values, you organically create a strong culture and a successful environment.
Solid hiring process – The interview is not only an opportunity to find out if the candidate has good skills for the job, but to learn about their own values, how they make decisions, and what brings them joy. Asking questions around situations and examples of how they exhibited those values is key. It will show you how they handle difficult situations and how they reached success. Successful people have positive stories that they can share around how they navigated to positive outcomes.
Clear responsibilities – As a leader, your role is to help guide, coach and accomplish what has been set out for the position. It is also your responsibility to define what success looks like and break it down for your team, so it is clearly understood and doable. Then, if a team member isn’t performing as they should, it makes the development plan much easier and more structured.
Staying fueled – Good people who are functioning at a high level in a role will align with the culture, system, and pace of the position. The best of the best get joy from their job and the responsibility. This doesn’t mean it’s always rainbows and sunshine, but it makes it easier when the position is fulfilling. This helps give them the mental, physical, and emotional horsepower to do the job.
In the 18 years I have owned and led our business, there has never been a more important time than now to have a strong culture, solid values and great hiring practices. Not only will your business reap the benefits of focusing on these things, your customers and competitors will also notice. I hope these tips help you think about your team and your next hire.
This article is written by Mike Heffner, the owner of the local Greenwood Express Employment Professionals franchise. Contact Mike at Mike.Heffner@expresspros.com, @IndySouthMike on Twitter or visit ExpressIndySouth.com.
