Building a business from scratch provides all kinds of exciting possibilities, but fostering the right team can be quite a challenge. Whether you are a serial entrepreneur working on your latest venture or a small business owner getting your first company off the ground, the staff you hire will make a world of difference.
Hire the right people, and you will lighten your own load while expanding your possibilities. Hire the wrong people and you could find yourself putting out fires, and dealing with interpersonal conflicts all day. So how do you build the best team, and what can you do to make sure everyone you hire adds to the group dynamic? Ryan Rock, Ankeny President of Empire AG, LLC, shares tips for entrepreneurs as they build their businesses and flesh out their teams.
Assess Your Strengths and Weaknesses
As an entrepreneur, you have the final word on who you hire, but building a great team may not be as easy as you think. If you want to develop the best possible team, start by analyzing your own strengths and weaknesses. This kind of self-reflection isn’t always easy; however, it is an essential prerequisite to hiring the right support staff and team members.
Seek Out Team Members with Complimentary Skills
Once you know where your strengths and weaknesses lie, you can work on finding the right members for your team. Ryan Rock of Ankeny recommends using the inventory of your skills as a hiring guide to help you seek out potential employees with skills that complement your own. For example, as an entrepreneur, you may have exceptional leadership abilities but lack management and direct oversight skills. Hiring a general manager who has those skills will help you build a better business.
Give Key Players Skin in the Game
Building a business from the ground up gives entrepreneurs control over their compensation structures, which can make it easy to attract qualified team members. By giving key players skin in the game, entrepreneurs and small business owners give the team a direct stake in the future of the company.
There are many ways to give those team members a stake in the future, and each has pros and cons. Granting stock and stock options will certainly accomplish that goal, but it could dilute the future value of the firm and make additional fundraising harder. Paying above-average wages is another option; however, this could make reaching profitability more difficult. It is best to weigh the pros and cons of each option and analyze the impact on your company before deciding on a compensation strategy.
Building a great team is always a challenge, and even corporate giants struggle with the hiring process. As an entrepreneur or the owner of a small business, you have some advantages – like flexibility – and some disadvantages – like a limited budget. If you want to build a team that is worthy of your vision, you need to work within those parameters while making the most of your built-in advantages.