Coaching for Excellence – Issue ⁰08

Coaching tips from issue 08 of the Coaching for Excellence newsletter.

Challenges of Small Biz Hiring

Many founders are great at their craft, but lack experience in scouting, hiring, training, coaching, and retention. On top of that, a catch-22 occurs with resources, time, and money. Here are some questions to help you get started.

• Need for tier-one talent, but tight budgets. What task when delegated will help pay for itself? Are your team members ambassadors for the brand?
• Need for self-motivated generalists, but don’t know how to identify them. What evidence do you need to identify they are self-motivated? Or can wear 17-hats?
• Need help yesterday, but have a shallow talent pool. Instead of hiring out of desperation start paying attention to those who provide the type of service you want your business to be known for. Add their contact information to your potential team member roster, before you need to hire. The same way you identify potential clients, do the same for your team.
• Need autonomous individuals, but lack time to train. Define what success looks like in the role. Be specific and include measurables. Start documenting your processes and saving your templates. My favorite tool for this is Notion. I share how to create a virtual workspace for documenting and organizing these processes.

Clarity sets you and your team up for success. Knowing who you need, why you need them, and what they need to do to be successful makes it easier to identify your ideal team members.

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Proximity : Connection

There’s a correlation between proximity and connection. It’s at the core of long-distance relationships, remote teams, and WFH employees. How we respond to the geographical gap can either increase or decrease the relational gap. Distance requires more effort from everyone to sustain the connection and make it thrive.

• Commit to recurring face-time. Find a cadence that works for your relationship, but at minimum weekly.
• Resolve any issues immediately. This reduces the likelihood of a false narrative and the problem escalating.
• Celebrate who you appreciate. Acknowledge their contributions, verbally and in writing. Share things that speak to their interests and development. Send small tokens of appreciation (book, coffee, gift cards).

When people are a priority, you find time for them. 💓 This creates a ripple effect because they’ll mirror this behavior with their peers and clients. And valued teams carry less stress home with them. Furthering the ripple effect.