The Right People? The Right Seats?

The importance of people in strategic places is ever more critical today.

One of the keys to business success is building your team.

If you already have a team, it’s a good idea to step back and evaluate it before weak spots slow your growth, or worse.

What do you look for when you hire? Experience, education, proven talent? All crucial, for sure, but there’s something bigger. “The right people are the ones who share your company’s core values,” says Gino Wickman in his book called Traction: Get a Grip on Your Business. Miss this, and you’ve got a serious hole in your team.

The hard truth is that people who don’t share your values will undercut you in one way or another, whether intentionally or not. They’ll do less than their best work or grumble about your management in the break room. It’s not even in their best interest to be working for you, when they could be happier elsewhere.

Let’s say you’ve got talented people working for you who share your values. You could still have a problem if they aren’t in the right roles. Wickman advocates taking an objective look at whether your organizational chart actually reflects your business needs.

Leadership Needed in Three Functional Roles:

Every business is different, but every business needs key people to take leadership of three basic functions: Sales and marketing, operations, and finance. These must all be strong, and Wickman illustrates why.

• Strong sales and marketing + weak operations + strong financial = Giant sucking sound as customers leave you because operations isn’t delivering what you promised.
• Strong sales and marketing + strong operations + weak financial = Lots of happy customers but no spending control or profitability benchmarks.
• Weak sales and marketing + strong operations + strong financial = Not much is happening because business is drying up.

See how everything is related?

Get the right person accountable for each of these functions, and you’re almost there.

Two more seats complete the picture, and chances are you’re already in one of them.

Integrator  and  Visionary Seats to Fill:

An integrator makes sure these three functions work harmoniously together. Integrators are known by other titles, but they are all logical and prudent. A good CRM software with strong analytics and decision dashboard features, one that integrates smoothly with accounting and other office management tools, is essential to an integrator.

A visionary looks to the future and hatches ideas with breakfast. Visionaries typically are very creative, great at cultivating key relationships, and operate from an emotional place.

A successful business needs both an integrator and a visionary. Without an integrator, things can get chaotic really fast. Without a visionary, things can get dull and stodgy.

Which are you, an integrator or a visionary?

Do you remember either first A-Team TV series or the A-Team movie of 2010?   One of the key phrases I always enjoyed hearing and better yet love to say is "I love it when a plan comes together". How about You?

Do you have the right tools to support the right people in each of these seats? Give us a call if you’d like some insightful help assessing the answer to that question.

Your business’s success could depend on it.