Adding partners, not employees

In today’s world and with the rapid expansion of the Internet, small teams can easily find themselves overburdened with many projects while they’re not expecting them. That’s when they need more “man-power” to be able to handle the additional work.

Looking for an employee to add to a small team is not an easy thing to do. And when we speak for the first employee, the decision is even harder because it will play an important role in the growth of the team.

Back to the post’s main theme though. When we’re adding a new person to our roster, we should have him motivated from day one. It’s important for someone to start working with us with a positive attitude. Moreover, we shouldn’t just give that person a basic salary and expect from him to give his 100% as if the company is his/her own child. That’s why we should  approach the relationship as a partnership.

You should:

• Try to make him/her feel welcome not only with words but also with actions. Let him freely state a different opinion than yours and listen to him like he’s your partner and not just another voice. Following his advice will boost his confidence and enthusiasm more than you can imagine.
• If you can, try to foresee what his expectations are when it comes to his earnings and try to add more to the table than he expected. It will help his motivation and the sense of responsibility that he will show at work. We can’t always afford that, but when we can, it’s a great thing to do. If our employees are struggling to cope with their bills they won’t be focused and they will always try to find other sources of income.
• Let him be creative. Let him find new ideas for an in-house project and let him be a part of the brainstorming. Find what his passions are and start something in that niche so he will become heavily involved in that project. Allow him to “spend”, say, 2 hours of work a day on that project  and also try to get involved as much as you can. Needless to say that especially for that project, he’s your partner and not just someone who is working on the thing that he loves just to give you all the value. Make him an equal partner in that project.
• Try not to give him projects or tasks that have already been started. I know it’s hard but let’s take client communication as an example. If you already have a client that you’ve been working with him for quite some time, and one day your new employee has to start talking with him, he won’t know how to handle the communication with him, the tasks that need to be done and more importantly what has been done in the past for that client, how and why.
• If you are enjoying things because you’re one of the owners of a company, let him also have the same benefits. If your schedule is flexible, allow him to have a flexible schedule too. Don’t take it to the extremes but if the other person feels equal to you, chances are he’ll feel much happier working for you. “Lead” by example. And try to add the friendship element into the equation.

These are at least some of the things that we should do in order to create a very good team that will be able to bond and create beautiful and profitable projects. After all, we’re in business in order not only to build a better life for ourselves, but also for the people around us and especially the people that help us achieve our goals. I am sure I am missing many important things here, so please do tell me if you have more ideas!

Ps. Welcome Lydia to our team. We’re ready for you to rock our world!