Scaling Your Team: Strategies for Hiring and Managing a Growing Workforce

“Seriously? You’re going to talk about how to hire and manage a workforce. Matt, aren’t you over-complicating things? Is this necessary for me to think about?”

You’re going to be surprised to know that?

1. Yes, it is necessary and
2. No, I’m not overcomplicating things

Do you ever wonder what the difference is between struggling businesses and startups and businesses with multi-billion dollar valuations?

“Uhh, the amount of money they have?”

Well, yes. But, the main difference is the attention to the small things.

You see, everything from your website’s SEO and ad campaigns to your company’s hiring policy, working timings, and management hierarchy all play a role in determining the speed at which you make progress.

Now, before you start thinking about why you should be considering these things, remember that the people that you hire will be the team that takes you and your brand to the next level.

They’re the people that’ll stand by you.

They’re the ones you’re going to trust with everything.

They’ll be the people that you share your ups and downs with.

They’ll be the ones that will stand with you, whatever happens, today or tomorrow.

So, to ensure that that is what happens, you need to make sure you’re hiring the right people and they’re enjoying their stay with you.

You can’t micro-manage everything.

What you can do is set some basic processes and frameworks in place to make sure you get what you’re working towards.

Successful businesses often have a strong culture of excellence and pay attention to even the smallest details. That’s what makes it more likely for them to make it to the big leagues.

This is one of those things. Anyways, let's get into it.

First up: Your hiring strategies. Who are you hiring?

“Aah, I know. You mean to talk about hiring freelancers, contractors, or f-”

Full-time employees, yes. And, it’s not bad if you choose a freelancer over a full-time employee or work with people on a contractual basis.

What IS important is that you realize why you’d choose one person over the other. Understanding the differences (and no, not just in how they work, and the fact that you need to give severance pay and all that) goes beyond just saving you money.?

When you’re out to build a proper team that stands by you regardless of what happens, keeping in mind WHO you want by your side is equally important as WHAT you’re hiring them for.

So, full-time employees are expensive upfront. You need to give incentives and benefits, including things like paid days off, sick leave, onsite working accommodation, etc.

Then you’ve got severance pay as well. That depends though. Anyways, it’s not just that.

If you’ve got no work for them, or the workload is extremely light, you’re still going to be paying them what you would if they were working at full capacity.

You’ll be responsible for getting their skillsets upgraded. Need your PPC manager to employ different tactics? Well, you’re going to be paying for the course he needs to take. Not him.

On the bright side, you’ve got someone for a fixed period every day, available for what you want and need them to do.

Then, you’ve got freelancers. With varying skill sets, experience, knowledge, expertise, and pricing, you’ve got oh-so-many people to choose from.

On one hand, you can get someone who’ll do work for you on a pay-as-you-go basis, with your only responsibility being to provide the required information as well as payment for the work.?

This way, you’re not paying someone more than you need to. Fair enough?

The downside here, however, is that that’s true for them as well. They could one day stop working, leaving you to find someone else to familiarize with, trust, and build a connection with to work.?

Or they might increase their rates to an extent where it’s just not viable for you to work with them.

And then, you’ve got contractors. People you hire on a per-project basis. Here, you know exactly what to expect in exchange for what you’re paying.

The problem here could be that, suppose you want some level of assistance on something other than what’s agreed in the contract.

They might either

1. straight up not be able to accommodate your request or?
2. have such eye-watering “additional work” charges that you might just resort to trying things yourself.

All three of these types have their pros and cons.

Hire a full-time employee who turns out to be a great, supportive, and reliable team member.

Hire a freelancer and get work done reliably without going over your budget.

Hire a contractor and assign projects and blocks of work accordingly.

However, you might have more trouble managing multiple freelancers than simply having someone in-house.

In-house employees might not work at full capacity at all times, unlike contractors who have set guidelines and deadlines to follow.

However, they will be around for other things, whereas the contracted individuals will only be responsible for honoring the terms of the contract.

Ultimately, it comes down to your requirements. Have a diverse variety of unrelated projects?

Go the contractor's way.

Need to build a reliable team within a moderate budget?

Look into having a mix of freelancers as well as full-time employees.

Now that you’ve gone ahead and hired them, have you thought about how you’ll manage them?

“So, checking in and following up with them constantly throughout the day and making sure they’re doing what I’m paying them for and…”

No. That’s micro-management. You want to manage them, not do the things you hired them for.

So, when it comes to management, think about having proper communication and feedback channels as well as setting clear goals and expectations so that they know what you expect of them.

It’s not something set in stone as attitudes, leadership styles, and communication methods vary with time and across different people.

However, what is important is fostering that culture.

That environment.

That sense of belonging and value so that each member of your time, remote or on-site, freelancer or contractor, feels the need to contribute fully to their work and ultimately, your cause.

Give them the training and knowledge they need to do their job effectively, empower them to make the decisions they need to make to get the work done, give them feedback and have proper communication.

Over time, this will go beyond just getting work done. It’ll foster a healthy environment that motivates your team to grow, simply because they enjoy working with you.

After doing ALL that, you also want to make sure they don’t just pack up and go one day.

“Why would they do that though? I’m paying them, Matt. There’s no reason for them to go.”

Look at things from their perspective.

They’re employees, working in exchange for money and some benefits.?

They’re putting in their time, effort, their knowledge, and their creativity doing what you want them to do.

Now, if they get any opportunity to make more or work less, why do you doubt they won’t take it?

It’s only fair. After all, they are doing things for the money. Just a motivating and uplifting workspace won’t exactly pay the bills, you know?

So, it’s nothing personal. However, if you want to make sure you don’t have to keep putting out a “Hiring” sign now and then, all you have to do is follow one rule:

Keep ‘em comfortable.

Now, that means everything from increased compensation and a share in the company to flexible working schedules and work-from-home opportunities.

Let them do their own thing, as long as no one’s getting affected and the work is getting done.?

Give them what they want, so the only thing they have to think about is the work they need to get done.

It’s that simple.

Can’t give more compensation? No problem. Make the environment as relaxing as possible.

Do they need training or enrollment in a course or two? Make sure that’s done. No worries.

Make yourself reachable and within reach at all times so that they don’t feel cut off from the rest of the upper management team.

There are so many things, beyond financial compensation and incentives, that you can do. Sure, that is important. However, it’s just one part of the process of ensuring your team leaves you for other, potentially better opportunities.

And there’s so much more…

As a team leader, you’re going to face many challenges.

You might burn out after overworking yourself.

Maybe someone is not able to keep pace with everyone else.

There might be cultural differences preventing a smooth settling-in between someone on your team.

You might look into experimenting with various growth strategies to stay ahead of the competition.

There are just so many things that go on when it comes to developing processes and systems that are scalable, especially when they involve people with so many unique things about them.

Ultimately, you’re the one moving everyone forward, so it’s on you to make this work.

You’re the motivator.

You’re the team leader.

You’re the driving factor.

You can and will do this.

Once you realize that your team looks to you for inspiration…

Yeah. The rest is going to be smooth sailing.

That’s it for today.

I’ll leave you with a nice 4S formula that you could use to do exactly what I talked about today.

So, it goes like this.

Story, Sourcing, Selecting, and Structure.

Your story is the problem you’re out to solve. Your cause. The reason for your being in business.

Sourcing is finding the right talent. It could be your valet. It could be your local watch dealer. Whoever it is, you want the person who is capable of doing what you want to be done. They have the right network and toolset to get things done. You want to get the right people. Simple.

Selecting is when you choose who you’re going to onboard. However, it’s not just “Thanks for the interview. I’ll let you know”. It’s working with them for a small period (just like a test) to figure out what it’s actually like to work with them so you know you’re picking the right person who’ll be a good fit,

And finally, structure. How do you want them to get things done? Do you want them to set their priorities every month? A quarterly basis? That’s on you to set the theme and tone to make sure everyone’s moving smoothly.

Anyways, as always, if you need my help on anything, I’m just a message away. Feel free to reach out and I’ll be more than happy to lend a helping hand.

Till next time, keep building.