4 Mistakes You Make When Building your Company’s Team (and how to avoid them)
Businesses start small. Usually there’s one, two, maybe three original members tops who came up with the original idea or were influential in the creation of the first product. As your idea and your company grows you begin to have more work than the original founders can handle on their own. Sometimes it can be hard to expand the company and let go of control, but if you can’t do that it will be almost impossible for your company to grow. One of the best qualities of a leader is understanding when someone else has more expertise in a certain area and relinquishing control. Once you’ve reached the point where you can afford it, if you’re hiring the right people, it’s necessary to help your company grow. However, the biggest question is: How do I know if I’m hiring the right person? While part of it is intuition, there are also come comment mistakes founders make that you should try to avoid.
1. Hiring too fast-
It’s easy to get wrapped up in your first hire and choose the first person that comes your way. In any company, the hiring process isn’t only about qualifications. You also need to consider how someone will fit into your company culture. Are they hyper competitive, and you’re looking for a collaborative culture? Are they extremely laid back and won’t foster in an environment where they need to take their own initiative? All of these should be taken into consideration when you begin the hiring process. So make sure you don’t necessarily grab the first candidate you see and run with it. You’re better off taking your time and ensuring that they’re a proper fit than finding out six-seven months down the line that they’re not a good fit at all.
2. Not letting go-
This one can be a huge challenge for most first-time entrepreneurs. Having to fire someone for the first time can be tough. It’s an awkward experience at best, and there’s always the worry that you’re not giving them enough of a change. If you truly think that the person is not a good fit for the company or the position they’re in then you’re better off letting them find a better option. While it can be rough, it’s necessary for the good of the company. There’s no point in having an employee who either isn’t suited for the job they’ve been hired to do or that is creating a company culture that you don’t envision. Most startups also can’t afford to be paying someone who is a bad fit. Cut your losses and let them go. It’ll be better for the both of you in the long run.
3. Hiring people just like you-
Don’t fall into the trap of hiring Mini-Me’s. It’s not a good idea to have all your employees agreeing with you or mimicking your character traits. Diversity of thought and personality not only benefits the team experience, but also the work itself. Productive disagreements can be good. As long as criticism is given in a constructive and respectful manner it can be extremely beneficial. No company succeeds when everyone is always in agreement. You should expect pushback from someone on your team every step of the way. It shows a different perspective that you maybe didn’t see the first time around. You also don’t want everyone to have the same personality traits. For example a room full of optimists can lead to expectations that are too high, and a room full of pessimist can lead to excessive negativity. You need a mix of personalities to ensure that you end up with a nice middle ground.
4. Focusing on one skill group-
This is an easy mistake to make. You see a weakness in your product or company and you focus on that and only that sector when hiring. If your product is an app or web-platform, while you’ll always need developers to fix or improve your product you can’t forget to hire sales people or marketers. If you have a perfect product but no expertise on how to sell it then you’re going to be stuck at step 1. On the other hand if you have a physical product and you’re focused on selling it to individuals and you only hire sales people then you might forget to focus on other aspects like Human Resources or a Tech guy to help with your website. Don’t neglect certain skill groups because you think you can do it all. It’s not good to have one person doing Marketing, Sales, and PR and 12 programmers because things will fall through the cracks and your business will suffer. Ensure that you match all the needs of your company and you don’t focus too heavily on one aspect.
Hiring your first employee can be a tricky and stressful move. You have to ensure that every time you hire someone you ensure that they fit the job needed, as well as the existing team or company culture. When it’s a small team the fit matters just as much as the skill because you spend a lot of time together working towards a common goal. Most entrepreneurs make mistakes when hiring, and that’s fine, but you need to be able to also let go when you realize you’ve made one. Like most things in entrepreneurship, it’s a trial and error journey. You’re going to make mistakes and when you do all you have to do is correct it and learn from it.
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