HIRE AN A-TEAM

Have you got a team of only A-players that work well towards a common goal, are energized and are focused to bring their best value to your firm?

I find that many mid-market private companies do not.

Managing people all over the world, and working with some world-class CEOs over the last 30 years, are some of the golden lessons I have learned about people management.

• Only hire A-team players

• Any B player that can be trained to A fast do so. If fails, let go.

• C players let go immediately. They drain resources from your firm and are unproductive

• Hire slowly, fire fast.

• The team that took you to the $10m value is not the one that will take you to the $50m value. The $50m is not the one that will take you to $100m. The $100m team will not take you to a $1bn.

• Put in a rigid system for hiring such as Top grading.

• Get the right people in the right seats on the bus.

• Values and culture and motivation are essential for good hires. They can usually learn the skills if bright.

• Nothing is more important in a hire than their integrity. A very good technical prospect with terrible integrity is a no-go.

A smaller team of well-paid A players will be 3X more productive and less expensive than a much bigger team of B and C players that drain time and money from a company.

With no exceptions, all clients I have worked with have improved the productivity of their human capital by putting in place these measures.

They knew all this but never did it, and by working with them it all got actioned.

What actions do you have to take this year with your people to make sure you get the best ROI for your firm?

Are there B, C's you should have let go of long ago?

Where can you find A's and how can you attract them?

If you implement some of these suggestions, your firm will be stronger and perform better this year.