One of the more challenging issues that comes up in business is hiring help. In the early stages you’re usually too cash-strapped to contemplate this seriously, but after being at it for awhile, it soon becomes inevitable.
When it goes right, it’s amazing. However, there are also lots of ways it can go wrong, and I want to talk about one of the biggest reasons.
It’s called “overhiring” and it happens in big companies and in tiny businesses. It can cost you a lot of money and waste time and lead to deep disappointments. And yet overhiring is exactly what most business owners naturally do, for perfectly understandable reasons.
For someone in a micro-business, where you are generally self-employed, or maybe just have a couple of people in the company, you often are yearning for some support in thinking through at a strategic level.
You are also yearning for help in just getting things done.
When you cast about to find someone to help out, you come across two kinds of candidates, similar to what several of our clients found recently.
The first kind of candidate is passionate, maybe knows something about what you do because they’ve done something similar. She (or he) might have even been self-employed at some point, or trying to get their own business going.
You feel a great deal of connection with this candidate, and you think, “Ahhh… this is the person I need!”
The second kind of candidate is not as obvious. They seem less passionate, more reserved. They don’t know what you do exactly and sometimes seems to have an attitude and personality that seems a little reserved, not as warm and fuzzy as the first candidate.
Which one do you hire?
There are a LOT of other factors to assess, and so don’t make a hiring decision based solely on this short article. However, let this be a BIG warning to you.
The warning is that the first candidate above is actually a huge red flag. It’s much more likely, in our experience, that the second candidate is who you want. Let me explain why.
Business owners tend to be visionary, meaning they see the big picture. Visionaries tend to have an easy time talking to other visionaries, because of the shared experience in how they view the world and the business. You get along really well.
However, one of the downfalls of the visionary is that they often don’t pay as close attention to the details, and they often don’t have a realistic sense of the amount of work something really takes. Yes, my own team has drilled this into me more times than I can easily count. 🙂
Add these factors together: ease of connection due to shared Visionary perspective, the yearning to have someone help at the strategic level, and the potential shared experience of the kind of work you do, and you’re already leaning toward the first candidate.
Plus there’s a basic discomfort many heart-centered business owners have with being “the boss” and yeah, of course the first candidate, who seems more like a partner than an assistant.
However, here’s what you probably DON’T need. You don’t need someone else with a vision. You don’t need someone else who is going to be thinking strategically. You don’t need someone else who doesn’t pay very close attention to details because they are thinking at the Visionary level. You don’t need a partner.
You might think you do. You might argue with me a lot about this one. However, I’m taking a strong stand here that, in 99 cases out of 100, you don’t need any of that. The vision you have is fine. The strategic support and help you can get in small doses from a coach or peer mastermind group.
The big issue isn’t needing another one of YOU. You already have a you. What you need is someone who isn’t you.
Someone who can just get things done. Someone who takes a task, breaks it down into little bits, and gets it all taken care of, easily. Someone who will take care of what you tell them to do.
In larger organizations, when you need someone who basically just gets things done, and instead you hire someone into a manager or executive function, that’s called “overhiring.” It leads to the business being top heavy, meaning people thinking about what needs to be done, generally getting paid more for that, but not so many people actually getting things done.
Not what you need.
If you’re facing hiring an assistant, here are three things I’m going to suggest:
1. Get comfortable with being “the boss.”
This doesn’t mean you have to be a jerk, or boss people around. Kindness and heart-centered leadership are critical to building a team that really works.
However, it’s okay that you need something done, and that you’re asking someone else to do it. It’s okay. Breathe that in. Embrace it.
2. Separate out your strategic needs and your administrative needs.
If you are feeling a bit lost in terms of direction of the business, recognize that that’s a different thing than just needing to get things done. You can have both needs at the same time, but you don’t want to try to get one person to meet both of those needs.
3. Recognize that a good assistant will probably think differently than you do.
Although you do want to feel great connecting with people who help you in your business, you should expect that there will be significant differences in terms of how you interact with the world, and how you process tasks and projects. And that difference is a good thing.
This is a big topic, one that we handle in-depth in our Foundations3: Accelerating Growth program, but for now, I encourage you to take at least a few minutes right now and sit with these three points, and notice how your heart feels.
What if it was really okay for you to get help that really did what you needed?
Have you accidentally “overhired” similar to how I describe above? What kinds of experiences have you had trying to find an assistant?
With hugs and big graditude,
Mark Silver
Heart of Business, Inc.
Every Act of Business Can Be An Act of Love.
P.S. Small Group Coaching group available
Struggling with pulling a team together, or just stepping into a powerful and profitable place in your business? Are you ready for some hands-on help, in an intimate, supportive group? I can help you focus, learn the things you need to learn for your business, and the power of the group can help your business move forward in tremendous ways.
I have a small coaching group, capped at six members, and the focus will be on bringing out your Divine power, in ways that feel great to you, and help you impact the world.
Work directly with me, Mark. Check it out:
Small Group Coaching
12 Responses
Such simple but helpful advice, Mark. I found this really helpful. Straightened me out!
So glad to hear that, Deirdre! Wonderful to hear from you.
luv
Dear Mark,
I have received your emails for years. I have read your book. I have a yogi helping me with my spiritual blockages but I need a support group for business. I am interested but I need to tell you I am VERY cash strapped at the moment.
Please advise me. I run “Essential Wellness” a Healthy LIfe skills Learning centre in china. I spent the last of my money building it up and now need help getting it up and running. I teach people healthy life skills. I am qualified now as I have certification with the Association of Wellness Professionals in the USA.
Kind regards,
Denise In Ningbo China
I am Australian!
Denise- I hear you! Sounds like you are doing something really amazing- and thank you for being around for so long.
Have you looked at our Community? It’s Pay-from-the-heart pricing: Heart of Business Community It may be just what you’re looking for, and we’d love to have you along.
Great advice, Mark, as always. What also comes to my mind: when in need of (more) people for the first time, many small business owners end up with a long, slightly unrealistic sort of “Christmas” – wishlist of possible skills, knowledge and talents their new team member should bring. I did it myself. I just listed every task I didn’t want to do myself. Without realising it, I was looking for an “egg-laying-wool-milk-sow”: it is the (not offensive) “colourful” compound German word “Eierlegende Wollmilchsau”, translated into English. Egg-Laying-Wool-Milk-Sows are those rare breeds, who can cope successfully with whatever you throw at them, a kind of “Swiss Army Knife”, “all in one” or “chief-cook-and-bottle-washer”.
What’s the downside of hiring them? Because they are so rare, it is very difficult to find them and even more difficult to replace them. If you already have them:
You become complacent when it comes to the planning for your growing business. When they eventually do leave, the future of your whole business could be in jeopardy. Also doublecheck with your heart: How do you feel about it? Is this really a win-win situation for both of you, or are you just taking advantage of their amazing talents?
What can help: First define the tasks you need doing, then bundle them to a job or a “role”, then look for the “ideal” someone to do them. Weigh up the balance of your current needs with your long term needs: For example, if you are on a low budget and hire an intern at the beginning, who does all the jobs you don’t want to do, probably you create your very own egg-laying-wool-milk-sow. When they leave, because interns never stay long, you have to start the whole process again. One hour with an expert can be worth 10 hours with an intern, even if you have to pay far more. – I have written a blogpost on this: http://www.leadandconnect.com/egg-laying-wool-milk-sow/
Jutta- thank you for this. Helpful to hear your experience. egg-laying-wool-milk-sow- I love it! 🙂
When I first held a full-time office job, I felt awkward assigning work to a clerk, secretary, etc. It felt wrong, as though I was handing off something I wouldn’t want to do myself.
Then I realized 2 things:
1. Support staff is provided so I don’t have to do these tasks. So I should quit doing them and hand them over to the person to whom this is assigned.
2. If I do the work, then the other person has no job. I’m not doing them a favor.
When you own your own business, the issues feel a little different. Still, you have to get comfortable handing over lower level work to someone else and not overpay them to assuage any guilt you may feel.
-d
So true, Diana! Good points.
It sounds like you are talking about the hiring of employees in this article.
From the perspective of engaging a business that provides administrative support, I have an article that touches on our use of the term “partner/partnering”: http://www.administrativeconsultantsassoc.com/blog/2007/03/01/im-not-your-partner/
I agree that inserting a middleman (e.g., Online Business Manager) is nearly always overkill, creates a case of “too many cooks,” and an unnecessary expenditure when an Administrative Consultant is perfectly able manage the specific roles and functions for which they’ve been engaged, get things done and point the client in the right direction when other experts or resources may be needed periodically.
Danielle- not necessarily employees, but a business owner is good to think about it in that sense.
Wonderful article, Mark. I’ve occasionally come across people marketing themselves as a virtual assistant “plus,” the “plus” being all the visionary strategic support you describe. I’ve always had a vague question mark when I’ve seen that combination, which your article finally brought into focus for me! Thanks for the wise advice.
Lia- I’m glad it was helpful. 🙂