If you are going to get past a plateau, one of the most important factors is getting your key personnel on board. What often ends up happening is that a founder caps business growth by hiring people beneath his or her own competency level. That is, he or she doesn’t hire anyone with greater knowledge, productivity, experience or potential. Everyone ends up supporting the leader. When the highest level of possibility is encompassed in one person, growth, by nature, is limited. To counter this, founders have to remove the cap.
Bringing in key personnel pushes a company beyond “business as usual.” It forces change, and this will help restart growth. It also means that the founder cannot have complete control. Turning over control can be painful for many owners.
WHY DO BUSINESS OWNERS STRUGGLE TO HIRE EXPERTS?
Here are three reasons:
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Because it’s your company!
Sounds simple, but when you’ve invested – and you’ve gotten other people to invest in – your idea or your concept, you own it. You built this organization; not being the one to grow it is a hard realization.
Hiring a key person, whether a CEO, CFO, or head of IT, is an investment.
It is a monetary investment, sure, but also an investment of trust. We have to cede at least some control of intellectual property to the new hire. This can create a sense of vulnerability and even paranoia. Is this person now a threat in some way?
What if this person, in whom I’ve (reluctantly) placed this trust, leaves?
What will happen to my intellectual property? What if he or she takes clients? And, even if that doesn’t happen, how am I going to replace this person?
These are significant barriers to overcome. Implementing a strategic approach can help ensure you take the right steps to both countering these concerns and finding the right people for your organization. Take a look at your company, and stay-tuned for my forth-coming list of hiring “Dos and Don’ts.”
