A good idea is often destroyed by bad people, and good people can always make a bad idea better.
For the first 25 years running my own business, I was the inveterate micro-manager. I stuck my nose into every area of my business because I felt I could do it better than anybody that was working for me. I also suffered from a syndrome that forced me to keep people on staff. I hated change and the work that went into making change happen and I looked for the cheapest “body” to fill the job. This is a recipe for disaster if you want your business to grow.
Then one day, one of my key staff members at the time just up and quit on me. I was devastated. I went to her house later in the day and asked her why she quit. She told me that yes, maybe I was the best forklift driver or the best salesman or even the best book-keeper. But since I only dabbled in each one at a time for several minutes a day, I wasn’t really any good at any of them. She also told me that I was a disruptive factor to the rest of my staff.
This was a hard lesson to take but it really hit home.
From that day on, I made it a point a point to hire the best and let them do the job that they were hired for. Our company at that time had a total of eight employees and we were doing around $5,000,000 in sales volume. Today we are 28 staff members and are closing in on $50,000,000 in sales!
This is all thanks to a changing of strategy with respect to investing in people and having an amazing, cohesive team. So my message to all of you in a position to do so is “INVEST IN PEOPLE!” You will be surprised at the rewards you reap.
(This article first appeared on LinkedIn and was published by Jeff Solomon. Follow Jeff on LinkedIn and our company page too!)