Do you struggle with finding good employees? You know the old cliché, “It’s tough to find good people.” When Brad Sugars, author and entrepreneur, was struggling with this issue early in his career, his father told him, “Brad, you only get the people you deserve.” Those are tough words to hear when you are young and looking for encouragement. But true.
In order to assemble your dream team, you need to already be a great leader. But what is leadership? Now that is an interesting question. How many of you feel leadership means that you need to control everything, be in charge, know every detail, organize everything, run the show, be in command, hold the reigns, and all of that those old, worn out expressions? That’s management, not leadership.
I know a brilliant businessman who built up a business from scratch, trained a great team of people to run his business, and built up leadership within the ranks of his team. Today, his business runs better when he is not at the office. In fact, the team will not even let him have a key. Is that because he’s a terrible boss? Not at all! He is able to inspire his team with his vision.
That is true leadership: to inspire others with your vision.
What is your vision? Does it inspire you? If not, how can you hope to inspire your people? If it does inspire you, think about how you can paint a picture that will motivate your team to fulfill it.
You also need to overcome your ego. Have you ever heard yourself saying, “But nobody does it as well as I can.” Come on now… can that be true? If it is true, can they do it 80% as well as you? Unless you’re a medical professional, isn’t that good enough? (And for you medical professionals out there, stick to medicine and let your staff run the office!) Your team can perform and service customers based on the level of systems that you have developed to run the business. In fact, people should never run a business. Author and business guru Michael E. Gerber wrote: “Systems should run the business, people should run the systems.” Plus, your team might just surprise you. If they can do it better than you, fantastic! Then you are free to work on building your business.
Along with that, the team needs to share a few common goals, know the rules of the game, and understand the action plan - which is simply: who does what, by when. You also need to support risk taking. Of course, you shouldn’t let someone run your business into the ground. But nobody ever learned to walk without first falling down. Then you need to make sure that everyone is involved and included 100% in the business.
When you exercise true leadership, you can create a business that works without you. And that is what business owners should be working to achieve!
Copyright © 2008 Kahuna Enterprises, Inc.
Tim Dollmeyer is a certified ActionCOACH business coach. If you have questions or would like to learn about coaching, visit http://timdollmeyer.com/
As the world of business moves faster and becomes more competitive, having a Business Coach is no longer a luxury; it has become a necessity! Tim’s role is to coach business owners to improve their businesses using the proven systems provided by ActionCOACH coupled with his experience and yours. Tim will work with you to develop your vision and then get you into Action to achieve it.
Tim is a powerful and inspirational presenter who uses humor and audience participation to bring his point across in a way that will make a big impact on you and your business. Whether teaching business management, leadership or team building, Tim will help you to view your business in a whole new way. Tim presents workshops for every aspect of growing a business. Each program can be tailored to your company’s specific needs. He also delivers workshops in various areas such as conflict resolution, negotiating and public speaking.
© 2006–2009 :: Published by