You Are Building A Team, Not A Family. A Modern Approach To HR

One thing about great football teams is that they are always scouting for talent. They never stop!

As a sportsperson, I have always been amazed by how great teams are built.

A question I’ve always had is, “What makes great football teams?”

Is it a good coach(the CEO, MD), good tactics(The Business Strategy), good supporters(The Customer), or good players(Employees or the team)?

I discovered that even though everything above matters, there is one thing that stands out; The players.

To build a great team you need great players; And these players should be productive.

It’s not enough to have big names on your team, the big names should be contributing and producing.

When it comes to HR, I hate the old-time approach.

The approach where one is rewarded for presence and not performance.

The approach where you keep and reward someone because they have been in the company for 5 years even though they haven’t been meaningfully contributing to the organization.

The approach where you push to upskill someone who is not motivated enough to push him/herself.

There are a lot more things I could highlight but I will stick to the above three.

If your approach to Human Resources in your organization is still centered on the above approaches and not performance, you will find it difficult to build a high-performance culture.

How do you build a High-Performance Culture?

There are three ways to build a high-performance culture.

1. Stop rewarding people based on presence and start rewarding performance.

There are employees who come in at work at 8 on the dot and leave exactly at 5 but work for only 3 hours a day. They are in the office for 8 or 9 or 10 hours each day but only get 5 hours of work done!

The best way to reward performance is by implementing timesheets in your organization. People should account for every minute of every day.

2. Always Scout For Talent

Apart from this, they are always in the market, looking for talent. In your company, you should do the same. Always scout and have replacements for every position in your company.

3. Focus On Building A Team, Not A Family

I always cringe when I hear entrepreneurs say that they are like family in their company. It’s very difficult to dismiss and fire your family when they are messing up or not performing to standards.

Build your team like you are building a professional sports team. Set high standards and push your people to achieve them.

If someone is underperforming, then take corrective action or transfer them away to another team.

I will always refer back to football because it’s one sport I understand. One thing about great teams is that they always have substitutions on the bench, players who are always ready to chip in when another one slacks or underperforms and they do this whether or not the team is winning.

To close off, let me highlight that a high-performance culture is not for everyone.

When you start setting high standards and demanding performance, the non-performers will start to distance themselves, some will even resign but that’s how you build a great company.