As the entrepreneur and founder of your business, there is no doubt that you are eager and willing to step in and do whatever is necessary to bring your vision to life. However, that level of enthusiasm may not be contagious, and it can sometimes be challenging to motivate other employees to step outside their realm of responsibility to complete a task that was not in the job description.
That is one reason why defining your staff members’ roles and outlining how they relate to each other is so important. You must build a Resource Plan that has a clear structure of roles, role relationships, accountabilities and authorities (a more-detailed explanation of this can be found in The Entrepreneurial Journey).
For every employee, detail exactly where they stand in the organization relative to their colleagues’ positions, what level of work and responsibility they will have and what functions/areas of accountability they fulfill. Clarify how their position fits in and links to everyone else’s job in the company, and detail the level of cooperation and coordination that you expect between team members.
While it is important to plan how various roles will fit into your one-, five- and 10-year plans and evolve over the course of time, building in some organizational flexibility is also important. I recently came across an article in Inc. magazine, in which Wendy Lea highlights the importance of utilizing an organization chart as a guideline, not a hard-and-fast rule.
She advises hiring generalists with a wide range of skills in the early days of building your business, then gradually designing more specific roles with delegated tasks as you grow and refine your vision. This strategy also requires observing how your staff works – you may discover an employee has a skill that he or she was not hired for but which can serve a purpose in later tasks. Recognize and develop team members’ skills and strategies while constructively addressing their weaknesses, and you will gradually build up an all-star team.
“Create an environment where your hires can be leaders within the company,” Sara Menke, founder and CEO of Premier Staffing, told Lea. “Results are what matter, identifying an employee with the qualities to get the job done is what matters.”
Do you feel that the rest of your staff are as dedicated to the business as you are? How do you build a team of employees who are determined to reach the company’s goals, no matter what it takes?
