Rowing in the Same Direction
Early in my career, after a particularly good quarter, my Board Chair said to me:
“Rob – if I had your team, I could do twice the work with half the people”.
What he meant was that he understood every member of my team was contributing at a high level. They were all the Right People in the Right Seats. We had no dead weight. That was one of the biggest professional compliments I’ve ever received.
For most business leaders, their greatest expense is human capital. So, why is it that so many employers settle for mediocrity on their teams?
A high-performing team that is rowing in the same direction will drive significantly greater outcomes..
Think of it this way: Let’s say you have a payroll of $1,000,000, with 20 staff making $50,000 each. When each of those staff are delivering to only 80% of capacity, you are losing $200,000 a year in productivity. Depending on how that productivity converts to revenue (if each staff member represents $100,000 in revenue, for example), then you are taking a $400,000 hit.
Based on my experience, there are a handful of reasons why entrepreneurs settle for mediocre performance:
- Replacement costs – The hiring landscape is competitive, and it feels risky to give up what you have for what you want. Severance, downtime and hiring costs add up. It’s also rare to maintain the same salary with a new hire in today’s market.
- Scarcity mindset – Deep down, most entrepreneurs feel lucky to be where they are – they feel they might be one bad deal or misstep away from having everything crash down around them. Keeping an employee that isn’t great but doesn’t hurt can seem like the best option.
- They don’t know what great looks like – Having a clear definition of excellence in every role isn’t easy. setting a standard and holding people accountable to achieve it is tougher than just accepting the status quo.
These may seem like sensible reasons to hold on to what you have, but here is the problem… mediocrity will slowly drag you and your business down, tangling you in the weeds as you try to do everyone’s job.
So, how can you eliminate deadweight and get greater value from your team, without micromanaging?
- Establish a Vision. It is important for every single person to know where the business is headed and how you plan to get there. They must know what behaviors the company values, so they can decide whether they are a match. And your team needs to see people hired and fired according to those values.
- Create Clarity. When an employee doesn’t know what great in their role looks like, they are left to guess. Let them know exactly what their role is and what they are accountable for delivering on.
- Set Goals and Measure Performance. What gets measured gets managed. Help your staff set goals and identify what actions to take on a weekly basis to deliver a great outcome.
- Hold People Accountable and Remove the Barriers. Have you ever heard an employee say “nothing ever changes around here”? When employees feel unheard, they stop trying.It’s a two-way street. Hold your team accountable, but make sure they have the tools and resources they need.
When these are all in place, change happens fast. Teams start rowing in the same direction. Some people might leave; although that might be painful in the short term, you’ll be far better off. And you just might find that 10 or 15 high performers can accomplish as much as 20 staff.
If this all sounds far-fetched or daunting, I can assure you it’s not — I have dozens of clients showing it works. Reach out to me if you would like to learn more.