Build Your Own Dream Team Before You Need One
Most businesses are experiencing strong demand for their products or services. Predictably, many say they are short of people at all levels, and some have even found themselves in bidding wars for top-quality team members.
I often hear owners say, “Our people are our most important asset.”
For that reason, it seems fitting to spend some time discussing people. The best companies do not wait until they are desperate to find and develop talent. They build a thoughtful, disciplined process for attracting, developing, retaining, and re-recruiting the right people.
I believe the best companies consider the following elements when building their team:
The Perfect Candidate: Clearly define the perfect candidate, including skills, background, experience, and where you are most likely to find them.
A Good Fit: Establish a rigorous process to ensure the candidates you select are a good fit with your company and the position, and vice versa.
Co-op: Offer internships, co-ops, apprenticeships, or similar experiences to attract great talent to your company.
Mentor: Make buddy or mentoring programs available to team members.
Feedback: Offer clear, actionable, developmental feedback to all team members.
Advancement: Provide opportunities for advancement.
Re-recruiting: Develop and monitor your re-recruiting process.
A Special Place: Create a special place people are proud of and where they want to work.
The Perfect Candidate
Take a minute to ponder exactly who you are looking for at all levels of your company. What background, skills, education, and experience do you desire in new hires? More importantly, are you thinking about finding and developing long-term dream team members?
Over the years, I have observed that many successful and profitable companies develop their own players.
For example, you may be looking for high school students who have shown an interest in making things and may have participated in school-to-work or co-op programs. If that is the case, have you developed relationships with your local high schools?
Several years ago, I heard the owner of a successful auto supplier say, “If we can convince a high school student to join our company instead of going directly to college, we have a chance of developing a great team member.” As they progress, the company can help send them to college, and the team member can grow into real opportunity.
Are you thinking about developing your future team members? Do you know what you are looking for? Do you know where to find them?
Finding a Good Fit
Years ago, I received sage advice from someone who hired many great people. He said, “If someone is smart enough, they can probably perform well in most jobs. The trick is to find the perfect fit for the company and for the candidate.”
That is excellent advice.
Be able to clearly articulate the vision, mission, or dream of the company. Make sure you have a good job description. Define what success will look like as concretely as possible and share it with candidates. Be open-minded and reflective as you interview. You may find an outstanding person who fits somewhere else in the company, even if not in the role you originally had in mind.
You may also want to consider assessments or retained search consultants, especially for senior executive positions. The process is a lot of work, but what are the costs of bad hiring decisions and their impact on your customers, clients, and team?
As the old television commercial said, “You can pay me now, or pay me later.”
Co-op, Internships, and Apprenticeships
To build your own dream team, I believe a best practice includes offering internships, co-ops, apprenticeships, or similar experiences. This gives both you and the prospective team member a chance to kick the tires.
I would encourage a structured approach. Students and young professionals have lots of options, and you want to ensure their time with you is a quality experience. Often, they can become your best recruiters when they return to the classroom or talk with their peers.
Sometimes companies complain that they invest time and money training someone who then goes to a competitor. My polite answer is: they are yours to lose. If you take care of them and give them a good experience, they are much more likely to stay.
Do you have a pipeline for new hires?
Mentoring
Over the years, I have observed that team members do better when they have a sponsor. By that, I mean someone senior who takes a special interest in the newer person and their career.
Why not adopt that as a standard practice?
Assign someone senior to each new person to mentor and look out for them. A buddy or mentor is someone safe. It is someone a new hire can go to and comfortably ask sensitive or even embarrassing questions.
Senior team members can offer tips, share career lessons, and help newer team members feel less alone.
If you start a mentoring program, make sure you train the mentors. Some people are naturals, but do not assume everyone will know what to do.
Feedback
The best companies are exceptional at giving regular, clear, actionable, developmental feedback. Ideally, suggestions are offered as close to the observation as possible.
I like to refer to a review as an “annual career development and planning session.” That language changes the tone. The goal should not be to survive a form. The goal should be to help the team member grow.
Supervisors should prepare carefully, spend appropriate time on strengths and unique contributions, be clear with developmental suggestions, ask the team member for feedback, and thank them for their contribution.
Most of these meetings are with team members who are doing great, so please be positive and upbeat. In more serious performance situations, be especially careful and specific.
Advancement
If you want to build a lasting organization, provide advancement opportunities for your team members. This is a huge differentiator in motivating and retaining good people.
Just to be clear, I am not talking about promoting unqualified individuals. I am talking about knowing your people well enough to see where they may grow next.
I could tell countless stories about people who started in one position or department and progressed into another. Often, it is the supervisor or mentor who suggests the change because they know the person’s strengths.
The point is simple: give your team members hope for their future with the company. Sometimes you may see traits in a person and challenge them to transfer to a new area where they could excel.
Do you have a process to identify key team members? Do you have a system to smoothly transfer team members from one department to another?
Re-recruiting
What is re-recruiting? It is a deliberate effort to retain your team members.
I always assume two things: I need the team members more than they need me, and they have lots of other options.
Often, the most important team members are taken for granted. Leaders tend to spend time with people who have issues, not their stars.
Re-recruiting does not have to be complicated or expensive. Send handwritten notes. Praise a job well done. Share positive customer feedback. Visit their office or job site. Ask if you can relieve some of their workload. Spend time with them and remind them they matter.
Are you regularly re-recruiting your team members, especially your stars?
A Special Place
To build a great team, you must create a special place to work. Much has been written on this subject, including Daniel Pink’s Drive and Marcus Buckingham’s First, Break All the Rules. I would highly recommend both.
In summary, build your own dream team with intention. Know who you want and where to find them. Use a rigorous interviewing process. Offer internships and apprenticeships. Formalize mentoring. Provide clear feedback and advancement opportunities. Re-recruit your best people. Create a place where people are proud to work.
For owner-operated businesses, this is not just a “people issue.” It is a growth, profitability, culture, and enterprise value issue. A stronger team creates a stronger company.
And the time to build that team is before you desperately need it.
Great teams do not happen by accident. If you are ready to strengthen your leadership bench and build a company people want to stay with, let’s talk.
