Rethinking Business Done Well

I recently sat down over a two-day period with the owners of 15 large businesses. This group collectively represents some of the more efficient organizations in their industry, each one easily within the top 5% in terms of direct impact delivered and overall revenue.

Over the course of the meetings we discussed industry dynamics, marketing tactics, and P&L performance: all subjects that influence almost every business in their vertical, big and small, and ones that they’d come, eager and ready to learn how to innovate and drive performance.

However, none of these were the topic that drove the most curiosity and ire from these highly proficient business leaders. None of them were the one that we spent the most time discussing. Do you know which one was?

Team Development & Recruiting.

Even with the success they’ve driven, they still struggle to earn buy-in from their teams, drive performance and a commitment to excellence, and in finding and retaining the most-skilled individuals to help service their customers.

Some were caught in a constant state of hiring, training, and replacing team members so frequently that in one case, sadly, they admitted not knowing the full name of every employee on their payroll.

“We’ve seen the enemy,” one owner said. “And it’s us.”

Overstated perhaps, but even those most confident in their circumstances admitted a desire to see increased drive and results from their teams. 

The truth is, the single greatest strength for a company is its people and the single most volatile variable for business success is leadership.

In fact, unless you are a true one-person business, your best hope for growth and sustainability is to scale your expertise and customer focus beyond your direct influence through your staff. 

Some keys for success:

1. Fall in love with your customer again -not your product or service- and teach your team to do the same.
2. Thread your WHY through every narrative from marketing to attracting, hiring, and developing your dream team.
3. Understand that it’s a buyers’ market for employees and take the time to understand what motivates each team member -or prospective one- and learn how to tie it to performance.

Even the highest performing organizations are beginning rethink the way that they do business in order to drive real results.

Maybe you should too.

I’d love to hear your take on the changing nature of business done well.