Jim Collins, in his well-known “Good to Great” books, uses this term to refer to having the right staff ready to work on your business. He argues that it is more important to have the right people before you start on a business or project overhaul than it is to try and get them as you are part way through the overhaul.
There should be no doubt in your mind that you are embarking on quite a difficult task.
Managers are often the sort of people that can put up with more uncertainty than more junior staff. This means that although you might be comfortable with the amount of change that you are about to introduce to your organisation, many of your staff may not be.
They will quickly divide into 3 groups:
- Those against you.
- Those largely indifferent.
- Those in favour of what you are trying to do.
Early on, take mental stock on the personnel that you have available to you and roughly categorise them into three groups. This will ensure that you end up with the right staff. Only have a few that are likely to support your efforts? Consider whether this is something that you are ready to embark on. Should you take time to change your staff until you get those who will support you?
This topic is covered further in C2.6 Optimise100 Advanced Business Growth Techniques under Change Management.
Do You Have The Right Staff in The Team for Optimise100
Consider who gets involved with Optimise100.
One of the principal goals for this project is to move fast. Things will be less than perfect but you will make big strides nevertheless.
The fastest team for this project will be just you.
That will lack the insight that you will get from other minds. You will be better with at least one other person who will discuss things frankly with you so that you get the benefit of two minds.
If you are a larger business, a team of 5 plus or minus 2 (i.e.3 to 7), has been proven to be the most effective size. A further advantage of this is that you will have experienced staff for the next round.
We suggest you tell your staff what you are doing, and why, so they will not think it odd to see you with a stopwatch. Also, depending on the nature of your business, you should make sure people don’t think staff might be let go. You need to handle this carefully as, in fact, you might be letting people go. It is also ideal that you start to involve staff in the improvement cycle. Starting out with this will slow you down so better to do in the next program – Optimise the Growth of My Business Over a Year (Grow365)
Go to the Diagnostics menu: Level 4: Human Resources Structure for further staffing information.
