I’ve worked with many business owners over the years and virtually all of them list the performance of their management team as one of their top 3 ongoing issues.
Your ability to get past this hurdle, to build and develop a management team you can rely on, is the key to your future success. You simply will not be able to continue growing effectively without a high performing management team in place. And as your business continues to grow, it needs to be less and less about you and more and more about the team – especially when it comes to managing day-to-day activities.
But that’s a lot easier said than done.
First, finding and retaining top talent is a huge challenge. Second, you need people to understand your vision and priorities and execute consistently throughout your organization. And third, as the leader, you have to hold people accountable for results.
These are exactly the kind of issues I work on with my clients.
Here’s what I recommend to start getting better results from your team:
- Assess each member of your management team: Evaluate each person’s ability to understand your vision and execute on strategy. Establish a development plan for those who need it.
- Look at your org chart and fill in any gaps in critical areas such as Finance, Operations or Marketing.
- Make certain roles and responsibilities, priorities and expectations are clear. If you’re in a family business, remembering to respect individual roles and areas of authority are especially important.
- Create a meeting routine that puts strategic items at the top of the agenda.
- Learn to trust and let go. Give up control and delegate to your team. If you’ve hired the right people, get out of the way and let them be successful. Let them learn from their failures – just like you did. It’s your job to set the vision and provide your team with the tools and environment they need to be successful.
- I know it’s difficult, but make changes if necessary. Don’t settle for mediocre results. If you’re unsure how to proceed, ask yourself a simple question: If I were to start a new business tomorrow, would I take this person with me?
I’m not saying you need a perfect team to move forward because there’s no such thing.
What I am saying is that before you think about implementing another major initiative, fill in the major gaps on your team first. If you don’t take care of this, you’ll never be as successful as you could be. Don’t just fill in a seat because it’s convenient!
Most importantly, make sure everyone on your team (and throughout your company) is in alignment with where your company is going and why. I can’t emphasize this enough.
The time and effort you spend here will ultimately make your life easier and will allow you to focus on the things you should be doing – like growing margins.
If any of this resonates with you, but you’re just not sure how to make it happen, or you’ve tried and haven’t gotten the results you’re looking for, let’s talk.