Reap the Rewards

Your Knowledge And Experience Has Real Value

“If I were not present in my business, it might operate OK for a week or so, but couldn’t continue longer without me.”  That is the most common response we get when interviewing new clients about their staff capabilities, adequacy of their operating manual, and reliance on their daily presence.   After all, they are the creator of the company, its nucleus, and the “go to” person when “issues” arise. Every company needs one for success, right?  Yes, it does, but for salability and long-term continuity, that must change.

You want to become a teacher, mentor, and cheerleader to everyone in your organization.  Substitute the growth and development of your people as the yardstick of your success, instead of net profit.  Make yourself dispensable.

Here’s a logical place to start.  Ask them about their career track, where they want to be and what they’d like to be doing in the next 5-10 years.  Then ask them to name the top 5 areas in your business that most interests them.  Compare their answers to those 2 questions with how you’ve imagined their career track with you and the top 5 things you’d like each to learn that would make them more valuable to you.  Wherever your answers and theirs intersect, begin teaching.  As their learning turns into entry-level understanding, add regular use and discussion of that topic in your operation until proficiency results.

            “Measure your success by the success of your people.”

When you spend quality time developing your team, you’ll find that you have more backup coverage for absences, an engaged staff who have a deeper understanding of what it takes to run a business, and you are satisfying their desires to further their education and advancement potential.  Everyone wins!

After all of the intersecting topics have been exhausted, you’ll need to revisit the original discussion to see which topics should be reviewed next.  Within the short-term limitations of their primary job duties, your objective is to help your employees attain their highest potential.  Along the way, their contributions to you and their co-workers increases, productivity rises, job coverage expands, profits improve, and your pool of talent to support a potential expansion or sale deepens.

While relatively easy to do, this process still requires planning, execution, and consistency to work, just like any other goal.  It will be easy to put off for a few weeks that can turn into months, and then just fade away.  Don’t let that happen to you.  The benefits are much too great and there isn’t any risk.

Remember, the first step is simple: ask your employees to share their career vision and the top 5 things in your company they’d like to learn.  You do the same, and then set your priorities where your lists overlap.