SCALING YOUR BUSINESS
Grow Your Talent
And Invest In Your Employees
Verne Harnish And The Team At Gazelles
“ Great coaches consistently get the most out of their people because they consistently put the most into their people .”
In order to keep your company competitive and your people loyal , you must grow them through education and coaching . Based on exhaustive research done by Laurie Bassi , co-author of “ Good Company : Business Success in the Worthiness Era ,” this investment in people is the single biggest predictor of a company ’ s ability to beat its direct competitors and the overall market .
Onboarding : Getting The First Impression Right
One of the biggest opportunities to grow and align your people is when they first start working for you . Their initial weeks on the job represent a unique chance to create connection and deeply ingrain a company ’ s DNA into new people . However , few companies make proper use of this opportunity . Instead , the first days on the job often feel more like waterboarding than onboarding : no desk , no computer , and no phone ; the new boss is traveling ; and the first assignment is shadowing an unenthusiastic colleague for two weeks .
Onboarding needs to be a celebration , not paperwork . It should create emotional connections between the new recruit and team members .
Formal Orientation
To properly inculcate a new employee ( bring them into the culture ), structure a formal orientation process . It ’ s most effective when organized around doing real work while emphasizing the company ’ s values and purpose .
Boston-based global services company Sapient had one of our favorite orientation processes : It was a five-day “ boot camp .” All new recruits would spend a week working on internal projects , and , as they worked on these projects , one core value was reinforced each day . By the end of the week , everyone understood in a real way the cultural and strategic approach Sapient preferred for projects .
Sapient ’ s recruitment team found that new recruits who went through the boot camp could hit the ground running at near 100 % field-ready alignment , whereas before the orientation process was introduced , they had normally needed a frustrating six-month ramp-up period .
People are exceptionally positive , receptive , and willing to learn in this phase . So be careful about the kind of induction program you put in front of your “ hatchlings .” Dumping a 200-page binder of company policies on their desks is probably not sending the right message .
Growing People Through Coaching
As Google ’ s people analytics team discovered , one-on-one coaching is the No . 1 factor linked to great management . The best framework for coaching is Ken Blanchard and Paul Hersey ’ s concept of situational leadership . It guides leaders on how to mix the right amount of direction and support , depending on the competency and confidence of the person being coached .
Based on this model , managers can move employees through a development cycle that reduces the step-bystep need for direction and support until a task can be fully delegated .
As with any tool , this model requires a rhythm of use to make it