Where Are The Right People?
by Jonathan Jones
According to Jim Collins, the most important metric for a company is: “What percent of the key seats on your bus are you highly confident you have filled with the right people for those key seats? And is it above 90%?” This is a high standard for a leadership team.
Do you have the right leaders? A bad manager can (and does) expedite an exit strategy for your “A-players.” If you want to build a corporate culture that inspires people to work together—you must create it. Leaders need to set the strategy and help employees achieve results. The leaders are the keystone of a collaborative, interactive, performing organization culture.
Do your leaders demonstrate the strong values of the culture? Your leaders are the model for the rest of the company. Imagine the damage a leader does to the company if they do not believe in or demonstrate the core values defined by the chief leader and the others in the leadership team. Employees can see inconsistencies. All leaders need to be on the same page in both intentions and action.
Is everyone in the right seat? People are more productive when they are doing work they love. We are in an age where people want to work with people they like; they want to achieve success with, to feel a part of a “bigger” picture. When people are in the wrong role, they can stress out their co-workers and themselves. When they discover their proper position, they thrive and help team members around them.
Getting the right people and getting these right people in the right roles takes time. You have to make tough decisions but it is well worth the analysis and the effort.
Jonathan Jones (Jonathan.jones@vistagechair.com or 314-608-0783) is a CEO peer group chair/coach for Vistage International.