16 Jan Is your team Proactive or Reactive?

Growing your business to the point of having a team is a funny thing… You get to feel like a “grown up”, like your business is at the stage where it’s finally real and no longer something that brings in a few dollars at the end of the month. But on the flipside, it’s a massive change that can be really hard to prepare for.

Think of it like this… You’re pregnant and expecting your first baby. You’ve read all the baby books, received SO MUCH advice from all the mothers and grandmothers around you, you’ve painted the nursery and you’ve put together the cot. And then it’s time to bring baby home. All of sudden, you realise that the books seem to be missing whole chapters! Like the “How the hell do I keep up with the washing, cook dinner, shower AND feed baby all at the same time” chapter.

Now, it doesn’t have to be like this. That poor new mum above missed one important step in her preparation – have someone by her side that’s been through it to support her through this change. Someone that she doesn’t need to tell them what to do (after all, she’s got enough work to do with a newborn!) but someone that will tell her to sit down and focus on the baby while they look after her and the house. And that is what your team should be doing for you.

If you are spending your days delegating, checking and still doing, then your team isn’t being proactive, they’re being reactive.

Being surrounding by a supportive, proactive team doesn’t happen by accident, have you hear the term “hire slow and fire fast”. Often when it comes time to hire team members it’s because we’re already overwhelmed but that’s (almost) too late. When looking at your goals and planning how you will achieve them, factor in the support you will need. Not just from a technical viewpoint but personality too. Oftentimes, it’s actually the personality of your team members that’s most important. Another well known HR saying is “hire on attitude, not skill. You can teach skill but you’ll never change someone’s attitude”. This is how I hire, realistically, with the right procedures in place (and documented), almost any skill can be trained but to really get the support you need that will help you grow, you need your team to have the right attitude, to actually want you to succeed. You need them to care as much about your business as you do.

If you don’t have this yet, don’t panic, it’s still possible. Like I said above, the first step isn’t deciding WHAT you need, but WHO you need.
Because I see this so often, I have actually introduced a one off consulting service, it’s for the pregnant businesses, the ones that are growing and will soon be needing the help but perhaps don’t yet need an OBM or have a team. But would still love to chat with one about how to prepare themselves for when they are ready. You can find out more here.