Timeout for Leadership-your one-minute leadership id

Op-ed #4

How do you build your team?

Fact:

Hire a good staff or you will be fired.

Discussion:

It is up to you to hire a good staff or you will be fired.  Period.  End of discussion.  A bad hire will come back to bite you in the end.  It will always happen.

This past Monday was Black Monday in the National Football League.  This is always the Monday following the final Sunday’s slate of action.  It is the day usually reserved for team owners to fire their head coach.  Colleges have already taken care of this purge.

Let’s face it, it is all about the numbers of wins and losses.  The NFL is not about building character or teaching life lessons.

Many times, the head coach will be fired directly as a result of an incompetent staff.  The head coach is only as good as the group of assistant coaches that has been assembled.  As leaders, it is critical that we never forget this point.  You are only as good as your support team.

I have seen head coaches that are blindly loyal to his or her staff.  He or she would rather go down than sacrifice an underperforming assistant.  That is all well and good and, in a way, I admire that fortitude.  However, if the assistant did a better job preparing his or her players this purge might not be necessary.

The same rule apply to a school.  If the principal hires teachers or administrators who cannot perform and is unwilling to deal with this poor performance, he or she should not be surprised when he or she is the one let go. I know that I have been slow letting a person go because I liked him or her.  I would keep them because he or she was a nice guy or gal.  When I did this, I was not being a good leader.  I was willing to sacrifice the performance of the team because of personalities. I let the team down. Shame on me.

When building your staff make sure that you have people that complement each other.  In addition to complementing each other’s skill set, they must be able to work together.  They do not have to be best friends or socialize away from the office. However, when they are doing their jobs, they must be able to mesh as a unit.  Everyone must carry his or her appropriate load.  All oars must be in the water pulling in synchrony.

I always remember what Hall of Fame Football Coach, Bill Parcells used to say and I will take the liberty to paraphrase.  He would say that you and your team are never staying the same.  You are either getting better or getting worse.

I hope that I am always getting better.  What about you?