Walt: Hi there, I’m Walt. I’m here with Darrick, we’re both business coaches at Denver business coach, and we’ve been reading some questions from clients in a presentation to in order to give business owners a sense of what it’s like to work with a business coach.
Darrick: Yeah, so if you are a small business owner or an entrepreneur or solo-prenueur and need some guidance and in any of these areas that we talk about, that’s what we’re here for. So feel free to reach out. So today we have a question that came in from a home improvement contractor in Littleton, and this is what they had to say. As I work to scale my business, supported by strong sales growth, I’m finding challenges in hiring and training processes as well as effectively, consistently communicating with my growing team. I’m afraid of losing good people because I don’t have a personal connection anymore. I originally had a small nucleus of people. It’s a pretty common issue,
I mean, it’s a good problem to have because it means that you’re growing, but it’s also still a problem and that especially a business that an owner or an entrepreneur that built their business on close relationships with their employees and conveying their thoughts and strategies through those employees to their customers, that can be a challenge for them all of a sudden to feel a little bit removed. But I know Walt, that you, talk through this same issue with some of your clients in the past. I’m curious where you started with.
Walt: Well, I think at its core, Darrick, this question is, is about effectively managing your employees as your team grows. And while it might make sense that, OK, I just need to hire good people. I would suggest that it starts before that, by really having the owner or management team clearly define what traits, not just skill sets or education or whatever, but what traits are required to be successful in their company. And that, in turn, really starts with a set of values that the owners define that the client or candidates must meet, and then how to assess their ability to measure up to these traits. And while that sounds like a lot of work, and it is, I would maintain that it’s far less work to hire poorly and cycle through multiple employees in order to find the right one that fits.
Darrick: Yeah, what is that adage, Walt? Slow to hire, quick to fire?
Darrick: I think that’s I think there’s something to communicate with your team. Honestly, I doubt that taking that time upfront, like you said, laying out some core values, making sure that you understand what it really is going to take, what are the attributes that make people successful? And I would argue for this owner too. They know. They know kind of they know the people that they’ve hired and brought on that have been successful with their organization. So they’ve seen that success. So kind of helping quantify what that really looks like. And then using that in an interview setting. And I would argue, you can’t do it in one interview, it’s really a series of conversations.
And I’ve always liked to get people in different environments, interview them at the workplace, interview them out to lunch somewhere, or interview them while going for a walk or something else. Like just get a real, true measure of the person by exposing them to different environments and really digging into those key things and don’t compromise on those key things. It’s easy to say. Well, I feel like they might improve when they get into my environment. Just remember, they’re putting their best foot forward when they’re interviewing. So if you still have doubts at the point where they’re putting their best foot forward, it’s probably not going to get much better than that, right?
Walt: True. And a lot of I think a lot of business owners, especially in small companies, they’re not, HR was not their background. They don’t know how to communicate with their team. They don’t know how to structure an interview. And so they take a casual, you know, ad hoc approach and see where the conversation goes. And what we help owners do is really provide structure to that process, set up some specific questions that you ask every single candidate that gives you insight, their answers, then give you insight as to how they measure up as a candidate, not just that they’ve had this experience before or done that kind of work, but you’ve got to go deeper with some questions that give you insight as to what kind of person they are. And that same structure really can help them evaluate existing employees, too. So it’s really about not just going at this casually and informally, but planning for it and getting results. I think we’ll end up with the right people in the right seats. And that’s really what it’s all about.
Darrick: And it sends the right message that you take it seriously as a business owner about every single person that you bring on board.
Walt: Yeah.
Darrick: Honestly, we could go on with about this topic for a long time. Could we I mean, this is a great conversation and I have these great conversations with my clients. I know you do too, Walt. But, if this is something that you’re currently dealing with or something that you want to see improved in your business, you know, feel free to give us a ring, see if a little bit of coaching might be helpful for you.
You can always reach us at denverbusinesscoach.com. And also, if you happen to have a question that you were really curious about, you’d like us to address in this Coach’s Corner Segment, et us know. We’d love to. We’d love to feature your question.
Walt: Thanks. We look forward to working with you.
Darrick: Thanks a lot. Have a good one.