For any new idea to be successfully launched and scaled you need to build the right organisation and culture. This is done through recruiting the right people, with the right attitude at the right time.
Easy to say and intuitively obvious advice to follow however, the successful execution of this objective is one of the hardest and most challenging tasks for any entrepreneur.
The principal reasons for this activity being so hard and challenging stems from the natural concern of the ‘consequences’ of relinquishing absolute control for your idea to other people.
In giving up some control you will need to appoint trusted people. These need to be people who you can delegate many of the tasks and activities you have become familiar handling yourself. Then switching your focus to monitoring the outcome of these activities and providing feedback when things go well (or not so well).
In addition, you may need to make decisions about releasing equity in your business to encourage other people to join your organisation and commitment themselves to successfully executing and scaling your idea.
Combining these factors it makes selecting and recruiting the right people one of the hardest, but most important activities you will ever undertake as an entrepreneur.
Here are some essential recruitment pitfalls to watch out for as you grow your business
Hiring too quickly and bringing on the wrong person/people onto your team.
Hiring replicas of yourself and missing out on capitalising on the power of a diverse team.
Hiring full time employees where it would be better to procure a service.
To avoid these pitfalls, start by categorising all your work activities into three buckets.
Firstly, identify the things you love doing and are good at. Bucket one.
Secondly, the things that you don’t mind dong and are proficient at. Bucket two.
Finally, the things that you don’t love (or even detest) doing and which you are poor at completing. Bucket three.
Once you have categorised your work activities into these three broad buckets, put energy into effectively delegating/subcontracting the majority of the work in the second two buckets – with one crucial proviso.
Before delegating or subcontracting anything your business venture, first determine if the work needs to be carried out at all. Ask and challenge yourself with the question of ‘what would be the impact on your business / idea if the specific work activity was simply stopped?’
Once you are clear that the work activity does need to be carried out, and is an essential component of you business, then prioritise delegating the work to another trusted person – or subcontracting to a business who specialise in this activity.
