Comments
Do you hire people who are smarter than you?
Rowan Simpson has been writing an excellent series of articles about the Trademe manifesto, we all read them and every one has given us something to think about and compare to what we are doing now.
Today’s article really hit home. It’s something the business owner’s ego struggles with - hiring people who really challenge you… hiring people who will be able to do your job better than you.
One risk of small business, is that you stay stuck doing what you’ve always done. You fit into the slot quite comfortably. Recently I’ve had a nagging desire to ‘move on’ - pass what I used to do onto someone with new enthusiasm, try my hand somewhere else within the business and take decisive Flow in a new direction.
It makes you really value the people you work with and how well they can take over from what you used to do. It also makes you wonder if you sometimes limit other people’s roles in your attempts to do it all yourself and been massively involved in every area of the business.
I suppose (after that ramble), it comes down to a different attitude in hiring. When you look to take someone on, don’t just think bout an immediate need, think about where that person could end up and what you want to be doing in the future…. And then provide an environment where that can actually happen.
October 3rd, 2007 at 10:50 pm
spot on nat, the best hires are people who you can see taking over your job at some point, but you’re also right, it is hard to let go of things as owners, not because I think you always want to hold them, but because you learn a way that works and even though you have the best people, just aren’t sure where it would go with someone else, and you’re just a bit freaked that you might have to come back and pick up the pieces and may not have the energy to do it. Its worst case scenario thinking, and that never gets you anyway remarkable.
Fortunately, the reality is there are some great people out there, and we’ve both continued to be fortunate enough to have a team made of these people. You’ve set things up well at PlanHQ for people to pick up where you’ve left off, a credit to you, an an exciting opportunity for them to go in a new direction, onward bound Nati Nat, the future is yours, and its only very early days indeed, love your ways,
T
October 8th, 2007 at 10:46 pm
I think you can learn from them.
I believe in squeezing the juice out of EveryONE around.
There’s always plenty of things you can learn from people, by paying attention to small things they do and ACtually appreciating it [learn to like it and thank them for teaching you] can be surprising effective in making quick friends and gaining maximum loyalty from team mates.
ALso, you need to encourage everyone around me, to give the best they can, and give guidance/advice to them. This way you help them to grow while you gets feedback on what you do[usually how you can do what you do better]. However, for a female, you will find it a bit different, considering the big male ego in NZ, but turely open minded people won’t care who it is from.
Be warned: some people will never do what they are told, they won’t get over it for their ENtIre live, I’ve met many over 60~70s are just like that. In that case, you need to be careful what you say.
I can say I hardly feel out-smarted by anyone.
The essential things are: if people are learning from each other constantly, you will find that being out-smarted or not doesn’t make a difference, it’s just the things that people do. If they put more time into one thing, they will do better, fair game all around.
* BIG pride is dangerous, because it makes you forget how small you ReaLLy ARE* - me
Thank you for your blog.
October 14th, 2007 at 5:11 pm
Interesting. yeah I just got back from holiday and spent some time talking to someone who never stops asking questions… whether its about medicine, science, education, philosophy… anything! He researches EVERYTHING for fun. Really interesting guy and all because of a thirst for knowledge form anywhere or anyone.