How To Know When and Who to Hire - Business Coaching Tips

As a business coach

, I see this all the time.  A client comes to a session and says “Hey, I just met this great guy.  He’s looking for a job and he’s really good at so-and-s0.  What do you think about hiring him?”

In some cases, it might be a great move.  In others, it would mean taking the business off course.  How can you tell?  There is a great rule of thumb that I always come back to:  Strategy.  Structure.  Staffing. Here are some coaching tips to help you understand what I mean.

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Tip #1: First look at your business strategy.  Strategy always comes first in hiring decisions.  Where are you taking the business long-term?  What will it take to get there?  As you envision your business in five years, what do you want it to look like?  If you haven’t done a strategic business plan, don’t hire another person until you do one.

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Tip #2: What structure will you need to achieve your business strategy? Map it out.  If you are going to be at X place by X time, what infrastructure will you need to get there?  Spell out all the roles that will need to get filled in order to achieve the strategy you have set.  Do an org chart of the future with  each role defined and how that role will report in to the company.

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Tip #3: Set milestones. Trigger points at which you will fill certain positions.  For example, when we reach $325,000 in sales, we will hire a new sales person.  When we reach $1,o00,000, we will bring on another engineer.  When we reach $1.5 million, we will bring on a controller.

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Tip #4: Staff accordingly. When you reach a trigger point, then go out and find the perfect person to fill that empty box on the org chart.  This keeps you from being distracted by all the opportunities you see.  Just because someone is great and has talent, doesn’t mean that it’s the right move or the right time to hire them.  Only staff when the infrastructure demands it in order to meet the strategy.

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Tip #5: Avoid these mistakes:

• An employee says he/she will leave unless they get a promotion.  So, you feel forced to promote them before the business really needs that position filled.
• The business has outgrown the skill set of a longtime, loyal employee.  So, you create a new position for them so that you don’t have to fire them, but the business doesn’t really need this new position.
• Your brother-in-law has been laid off.  He’s a great guy.  Really smart.  Doesn’t know a thing about your business, but you are sure he can learn.  You bring him on and try him out in sales, although you really don’t need an extra salesperson at this time.

In my business coaching, I see countless examples of business owners hiring without considering their long-term strategy and the structure they really need to get there.  Hiring the wrong person at the wrong time can take a small business completely off strategy and cripple it for years.

All my business coaching

clients struggle with who to hire and when to hire.  It’s only natural.  After all, it’s a serious issue for a small businesses, because the wrong decision can be quite costly.  Having a long-term plan in place will really help with these hiring decisions.

When you are temped to hire a new employee, ask yourself if it is part of the long-term plan.  If it’s not, then ask yourself whether you are willing to completely change your strategy?  There are rare instances when such a talent comes along that it is worth changing the course of a business.  Rare, but it happens.  The key is to be aware that you are changing your strategy.  Don’t do it unknowingly.  As a business coach

, I know that it is always important to be flexible.  But, only change your strategy with the keen awareness that that is what you are doing.

noconnor@mindspring.com

www.nanoconnor.com