The strength of a business is determined by its team. What are the qualities of the best employees?

Teamwork is the foundation of any business, and each member of the team affects the overall efficiency of the business. Underestimating the impact of individuals on the overall outcome of the business is dangerous for any business.

I fired my first employee in 2007. Since then, there have been many different projects, and while I used to feel anxious about letting people go, now I do it indifferently or with a sense of satisfaction from saving time and resources. After all, if something didn't work out, separation gives a chance for positive changes for both parties.

Today, the 40-person team at ABC Group works efficiently, and I feel proud and satisfied with their work. In the 5+ years of running the business, we have fired over 100 people, some at an early stage due to internal problems for downsizing, but the vast majority at later stages due to inefficiency or lack of results. People leave us on their own very rarely, and these are isolated cases related either to a desire for higher pay or personal circumstances. More often, we are the initiators of the break-up.

According to the theory of limited productivity in related and sequential systems, the efficiency of the entire system is equal to the efficiency of its weakest (or narrowest) element. This effect is also called the "bottleneck effect." It manifests itself at different levels: team members, company departments, production sites, the global economy. Even at the level of working with one partner: if you do a lot and do it well, and your partner does very little and does it poorly, the overall result can be zero or negative.

It is great to be able to identify weak employees and fire them; it makes the business more successful and productive. It is no less interesting to analyze the personal qualities of people that help them succeed in their careers, to share these observations with other managers or business owners, and to suggest what the guys who work with me or want to work with me should pay attention to.

Here are these qualities:

Self-directed learning. We live in an era of rapid technological development, which means that knowledge becomes outdated almost instantly. Circumstances and conditions are constantly changing, old approaches stop working. A person who does not learn new things has every chance of becoming a burden to the business. It is critically important to be able to search for information and not to stop the process of learning new languages, approaches, technologies, and tools.

Initiative self-development. For me, a healthy model of employee growth and development is as follows: a person independently learns something new, expands the range of tasks they can solve and improves the quality of their work based on new knowledge, these innovations bring a positive effect to the organization, and this is followed by a review of the terms of cooperation or a transition to a more responsible position.

High responsibility. An employee does their job on time and with high quality, takes full responsibility for the tasks they are assigned. If a problem arises, they strive to understand the reasons for the situation, inform their manager, and together they analyze and adjust the work process to prevent the problem from recurring.

Respectful attitude. The ability to maintain personal boundaries in relationships with colleagues and management, a friendly attitude towards people in general, regardless of their gender or race. The ability to engage in discussion and listen to the opinions of others. Developed emotional intelligence, mental stability.

I think this is enough to ensure confident career growth for an employee of any specialization. Unfortunately, the full combination of the listed qualities is extremely rare in practice. However, when it is found, the company becomes stronger, and the employee receives unlimited opportunities for professional growth.

Next time, we will talk about the dark side, what employees pose a threat to the business. If you liked the post, please leave an emoji and share the link with your friends!