Growing a business is no easy thing. After all, 7 out of 10 companies never make it to the five year mark. Business owners looking to grow will think they need the latest software and technology when all they really need are better employees. It is the people you choose to bring in to your company that will make the difference between growth or stagnation; surviving or imploding.
- The major problem that many business owners have is that most tend to hire people who are just like them. This may appeal to your ego or your misplaced sense of culture continuity, but it is a huge mistake from which you may never recover. You must hire where you are weak. You must hire skill sets you don’t have. You can’t do it all. Not if you are looking to grow. If you think you can, you are definitely going down. Look at professional sports teams. Do they draft or trade where they are already strong?
- Embrace diversity where you can not because it might be politically correct where you are but because it will bring unique viewpoints, experiences and skill sets to your company. Not only just strive for gender and cultural diversity but also strive for a certain age diversity. Mixing up your age ranges will pump in fresh energy and with the young while blending it with the experience and success of the old.
- Finally, you do actually get to culture. You have to create an atmosphere of cooperation and creativity. That means team members are feeling safe with you and their team members. They are free to express themselves or feel free to come to you with a challenge or a problem. Open communication and collaboration is what will make you successful. It is what will really help you grow.
-Written by Kevin Sawyer
