Building A Team of All-Stars: Three Keys To Make It Happen
By Dave Anderson
A team of all-stars is created deliberately and systematically; it doesn't just "happen." Don't buy the belief that you're limited to the number of all-stars you can "realistically" have on your team. You have exactly the team you're willing to pay the price for: investing time, energy and money recruiting, establishing and enforcing performance standards, providing effective training once hired, commitment to provide top notch coaches to lead them and adequate compensation in order to keep them. Don't blame conditions, competition or bad luck if you don't have the dream team you want. Blame yourself. What aren't you willing to do to make it happen? When you pay the price in these three areas, you'll assemble a team of all-stars. It's not easy, cheap or fast; but it's possible. You simply have to want it bad enough.
1. Hire From High Levels and Hold Out: The Law Of Attraction says that you don't attract into your organization what you want; you attract what you are. On a scale from one to ten, sixes don't attract eights and nines; they attract fours and fives. Therefore, if you don't like the quality of your team, upgrade its leaders. Oftentimes I hear managers say something like, "I'm surrounded by such losers! These people are lazy, they go through the motions, have no drive, and most are 'kinks.'" Understanding the Law Of Attraction, I can't suppress a grin as these managers confess their own sins. The highest-level people in a department should interview and hire. Normally it's delegated. However, bringing the right people into an organization is a high-leverage, high-return activity. Have your nines and tens interview and hire: they'll attract other nines and tens. Resolve to hire only sixes and up. With training they can become sevens to tens. Define what a "six" looks like and hold out. (If you hire twos-after all, they're cheap and available-and make them twice as good as they are, you still just have fours).
Once hired, set minimum standards that must be hit within two, three, six months and a year. Minimum standards create focus and urgency; they mandate results from the day you hire someone. Most dealership "standards" are vague. People expect to keep their jobs by working and "trying their best." That's not good enough. New hires should know the minimum standard they must meet to keep their jobs. If this sounds harsh, it's not. What's harsh is not communicating what's expected and then firing them later for non-performance. A non-performer should never be surprised when terminated. He should know all along what standard is required to keep his job.
2. Train Effectively. If someone is performing below standards, ask yourself, "Could this person do the job if his life depended on it?" If the answer is "no," they were probably trained poorly. If you want a team of all-stars, you need effective training, not the window-dressing most dealerships provide. Would you pay to attend training like you hold? Would others? If you made a video of your training would anyone pay for it? If the answer is "no," your training is a waste of time. It's a shame for dealers to pay for training that's outdated, not reinforced, presented improperly, conducted by unqualified personnel, inapplicable to the realities of their job and doesn't sufficiently upgrade their skills, habits or attitudes. Bad training is as bad or worse than no training. The level of your team's practice determines their level of play. The quality of your coaches reveals itself in your players' performance. In a marketplace where your people need bazookas, are you issuing B.B. guns? You'll never build a team of all-stars until you realize that spending time and money on training is not the answer; spending time and money on effective training is the answer. Learn the difference or you condemn your team to a collection of "also-rans."
3. Fire Courageously. Weeding out poor performers is just as important as recruiting and keeping good ones. Yet, most leaders won't put themselves through the unpleasantries of demonstrating there's a penalty for failing to perform. A team of all-stars constantly upgrades skills and personnel. Leaders who permit perpetual non-performers to keep their jobs sabotage potential breakthroughs, destabilize the team's rhythm and momentum, convey contradictory signals concerning standards, compromise the team's collective self-esteem and appear personally weak and indecisive. Respect diminishes for any leader who lowers the bar in order for someone to join or stay on the team. More underachievers are kept on the payroll in the name of "second chances" and "compassion" than is reasonable. Mediocre people condition the entire team-including the leader-to drop their expectations. And while there are exceptions to performance turnarounds after someone has been given his fourth "second chance," there are ten failures for each exception. It's never pleasant to terminate an employee, but it's a decision leaders get paid to make. If you think cutting your losses quickly is abusive, I contend that mediocrity is abusive; settling for less than you know you should get is abusive, not having the guts to think big and demand more is abusive, as is selling the entire team short because, as a weak leader, you keep weak links. It's not the people you fire who make you miserable; it's the ones you don't. How often, after you terminated a non-performer-or a good performer with a negative and disruptive attitude-did you say, "Gosh I wish I'd held onto him for another six months?" Never! Most likely you lamented not getting rid of him six months prior.
You can have a team of all-stars. You don't have to settle for less. This short article is not intended to oversimplify the process. You know what you have to do and have known all along. You know the price is high-and it's not a one-time payment, but the cost for not doing it is greater. You have the opportunity to reach your maximum potential, to find out how great you can be, to stop settling for what you're getting and demand more. It's your call. If you don't build a team of all-stars, it's your decision. You're not a victim. You're the architect of your team. Your team is a reflection of you. What are you not willing to do to make it better?
Dave Anderson is president of The Dave Anderson Corporation, a sales, management and leadership training concern. Dave conducts "Leading At The Next Level" workshops and publishes "Leading At The Next Level" newsletter. He is the author of Selling Above The Crowd: 365 Strategies For Sales Excellence and his Web site, www.learntolead.com has free training articles and materials updated weekly. Dave is a member of The National Speaker's Association and conducts workshops and keynotes worldwide. danderson@dealeronline.com
