The Importance of Team Building
I don’t have all the answers. Never even for a second have I thought that I was supposed to have all the answers, and by answers I mean answers to anything – how to grow my business, how to grow a team, how to be better, how to sell, how to market, etc. It never occurred to me that I was supposed to know all of those things. I have a zone of genius and I have a bandwidth in my brain for certain things, and that’s where I stay. I live in my zone of genius. And I hire people around me who are better at other things.
Fear of Hiring on Team Members
I belong to several different coaching and mastermind groups and other types of networking groups. One of the more common themes I have been hearing, at least this year, is that some people are stunted in their growth, or they’re having a hard time growing their company, because they’re actually afraid to hire people that are smarter than them or are afraid to ask questions. And that shocks me. I believe that may be a key difference in our levels of success. At Spark, we’ve been really successful in growing our company year after year. It’s been quite remarkable, really, and I am super grateful every day for it. And that, in my opinion, is 100% due to my team.
Why It’s Important
As I mentioned before, I’m always looking to hire people better and smarter than me in relevant areas. I want to surround myself with people that level me up. I’ve heard that you are the five people that you spend the most time with, like you’re the culmination of those five people. That has always stuck with me so I keep people around me that I want to level me up – that are smarter than me and better than me in areas that are not in my wheelhouse. In my opinion, I think that has been a huge part of our growth, but in addition to that I want to reiterate that it is so important to not feel that you should be the end-all, be-all, know-it-all to everyone because that is completely untrue. I mean, would you trust someone who says they are great at everything?
Inspiration from Netflix
There’s a book, which I’ve mentioned before, called ‘Powerful: Building a Culture of Freedom and Responsibility‘ by Patty McCord. She is the co-creator of the Netflix culture deck. They put this ‘culture deck’ out on the internet. I believe that’s where the book was derived from because it got so much acclaim. IThe Netflix culture deck is basically a long PDF that Patty, the author of this book, and other people at Netflix put together. It’s specifically for the Netflix employees to say, ‘hey, here’s who we are’. It says, ‘Here’s how we need you to show up. Here’s who we want to be and if you want to be a part of this too, then you’re in the right place.
If this sounds exciting to you, stay here – if not then we wish you well on your journey somewhere else.’ I love this and feel like I’ve always had a little of that. I don’t like turnover. I don’t like to lose employees or clients ever – no one really does, I would assume.
When a Team Member Leaves
When someone leaves, we do an exit interview to see if there was anything here we could have done better, anything we could have fixed prior to their leaving. But more often than not, their leaving is usually because this job just might not be for them. Maybe they want to be in a completely different field, or they want to be on their feet and not behind a computer screen all day, or maybe they want to work with animals. Whatever it is, we always wish them well.
The Key to Healthy Company Culture: Radical Honesty
Back to ‘Powerful’ and the Netflix culture deck. One of the main themes of this document is that they have always practiced radical honesty within the Netflix culture. This means that whenever they thought about changing a system or introducing something new, they gathered all the department heads and other employees in a room. They put them together and say, ‘All right everyone speak your mind. Don’t be afraid to say if you think this is the worst idea in history. We want to know why you think and why.’
Spark’s Monday Morning Huddle
Netflix always wants animated debate to get all of the thoughts out there and everything on the table. Then they figure out what is the best course of action. I have always been behind that belief. We do that here as well. We meet every single Monday for our Monday Morning Huddle, and we talk about different things. But in the end, it’s all about whatever you (the employee) want to bring to the table,and we encourage you to bring it, no matter what. You want to tell me you hate my guts? Bring it. I want to know what I can do better, whatever it is. Thank God, nobody’s actually said that they hate my guts, but if they want, they can.
Rely on Your Team
I hope I’m fostering an environment where anyone would feel comfortable enough to be able to bring anything to the table. We all get better because of that. I shared some of the above information in the private mastermind groups I’m in, and it seemed really helpful. I think other business owners need to hear that it’s okay to not have all the answers – It’s not only ok but preferred to rely on your community, network, and team.
Know that you might have only a few answers and you may need to hire someone that has 500 answers. You’re still good at what you do, and it’s still your company. Just make sure you surround yourself with really smart, really good people. And then the sky’s the limit.
