How can you make your staff an Alpha “superstar” staff? The answer is not to put the right people in the right seats. It’s putting only superstars in those seats. Here’s how you can make that happen…
Your staff is second only to what you sell in defining how successful you will be at growing your business. As an employer, I have had great teams; I have had almost great teams; and I have had mediocre teams (thankfully, only in my early days as a business owner). The difference in results was dramatic, as a focus upon hiring excellence increased.
Employee teams who are committed, talented, persistent, and ready to do whatever is needed can accomplish almost anything. Employee teams that have to make up for even a few weak members have a much harder time even accomplishing the minimum. Any company aspiring to become an Alpha has to address this issue early and with a commitment to not give up even after your entire team is superstars.
I was at a conference a week ago, and I heard John Bisnar, a very successful “Alpha” attorney in California, describe how he gets and keeps the best employees. His process for getting and keeping “superstar” employees is a worthwhile model for any aspiring Alpha to look at. It’s certainly a strategy that has merit for any business of any size. In fact, a version of this is used by Andy Grove at Intel, one of the few long-term Alpha’s still maintaining its Alpha position today.
The strategy is pretty simple in concept, but, like most things that really work, it is hard to stick to and implement consistently. Here’s how John’s version could be applied to your company:
Start with a clear definition of what a “superstar” employee would look like in your company. Write a list of the specific attributes and behaviors you would expect from someone you would consider an “outstanding” performer you would not want to lose to someone else. This is not a job description. This is a description of how a superstar employee works and acts.
For instance, your list might include things like…
- extraordinarily skilled
- anticipates needs
- arrives early and is already working at “start” time
- works well as a team participant
- never says, “That’s not my job”
- thinks creatively “outside the box”
- models how all employees should behave
- extremely productive
- understands and is committed to the company’s mission
John Bisnar’s team came up with 25 attributes that they believed describe a “superstar” employee in their company, no matter what specific job title they hold. When they hire, they only hire someone they believe will become a superstar, as defined in that list. They look beyond just how much experience the person has or what success they have created in the past. They look for signs that this person has what it takes to become a superstar.
That means that they look at how the person is motivated, and how that matches with the company’s environment and motivational system. It means they look at potential as much as past experience, as long as the skill sets are already in place for the job being filled. It also means that they are weighing how a person likes to please others and how well that fits within the model the company follows with its customers and other employees.
If they don’t see a clear indication of a superstar, the person doesn’t get hired. There is no hiring for a “B” team.
Everyone is held to the same standard of excellence. When a person proves that he is not going to become a superstar, he is gone as quickly as is practical.
Why this obsession with excellence? Because in order to become and stay an Alpha, you have to be absolutely committed to having the right team driving your company. The difference is not just how much people enjoy coming to work and working with each other. It is also a matter of how much horsepower you are efficiently putting to the wheels of your daily efforts.
More gets done with more effectiveness and greater return on investment, because every great employee spurs on every other great employee.
How many times do you hear employees complain about how another employee is not contributing as much to the team as should be expected. Certainly, as the employer or manager, you don’t hear it as often as they are telling it to others. Mediocre or lazy employees are a drag on the entire organization, both in direct efficiency an in poor morale created.
So how do you implement such a process, when you already have “B” or “C” team employees on staff? John Bisnar’s plan is a good one. When he instituted this, he divided all employees into three groups:
- those who were already superstars
- those who might become superstars
- those who would obviously never become superstars
The last group was replaced as quickly as possible. The second group was challenged to become superstars and given a clear definition of what that looks like (that’s where the list of superstar attributes really comes in handy). If they didn’t make it in a short period of time, they too were replaced.
Then, here is the most important part: How do you keep your superstars? Certainly, every other employer out there would love to have more superstars. So, the superstars you have need to be continually “loved.” That simply means that they want to recognize that the company (and especially top management) sincerely appreciates what they are doing and the effort they are making to help the company reach its goals. You want them to not even consider an offer from a competitor.
That doesn’t have to mean money, although that might be the motivation for some. Actually, many research studies over the years have shown that being valued as an employee is demonstrated by being clearly noticed by top management and by being included in hearing what is going on, what the company is planning to do, and being invited to participate in that process.
As the Alpha model has proven over and over again, money is never as big an incentive as is feeling “successful” in what you are doing and knowing that others notice and care about you. Those are the employee versions of the “self-satisfaction” and “personal significance” factors of the model.
Can you succeed without following a superstar-only model? Certainly. It just takes longer and costs more.
There are Alpha companies now and in the past who did not have superstar teams. But that typically became more of a problem after they became Alpha’s, because once a company gets comfortable, it often loses sight of what got it there.
What I have seen is that having a “B” team staff makes it a longer and more expensive process than having an “A” team. There are just too many stumbles and too much pressure on the superstars that are on staff to enable the kind of sustainable success that should be anticipated as you move toward Alpha status.
You can become an Alpha. If you are an aspiring Alpha and don’t already have a copy of The Alpha Factor – a revolutionary new look at how to really create market dominance and self-sustaining success, you can get a copy at www.thealphafactor.com or at almost any online bookstore.
If you would like to know more about John Bisnar, visit his website at www.bestattorney.com.