One of the most important determinants of business success next cycle, when uncertainty about tactics could linger, is the people you choose to have on your team. As Jim Collins said in his award-winning book Good to Great, you need to get the right people on the bus, in the right seats, and get the wrong people off the bus.
We’ve all experienced how demoralizing it can be to hire people, incur the expense and time of training them, only to find they are such a drain on morale and productivity that you get less done by hiring more people.
To avoid that trap, smart firm owners will take the time to determine exactly what an “A Player” looks like for their firm and for each role. In other words, you need to decide what kind of person is allowed on the bus and what they need to earn the privilege of sitting in each seat. If you aren’t sure where to start, read Topgrading: How to Hire, Coach and Keep A Players by Brad and Geoff Smart.
Now that you have a vision for the right people and the right seats, you have a hard decision to make. Should you begin hiring now or wait until you really need someone? Here are four reasons why you should hire now.
The people you want are available.
Many of the best leaders, organizers, fundraisers, and data managers are looking for their next opportunity right now. They are coming off campaign and party staff jobs or contract gigs that ended in November.
Imagine the talent pool is a giant buffet, stocked with everything from lobster and filet mignon down to Hot Pockets and Pizza Rolls. As an employer, you can request anything from the buffet, but once someone else takes it, there’s no more left.
Do you really want to be the last person who goes through the buffet, when all that’s left is cold, leftover mashed potatoes? No, no you don’t. The most attractive candidates will be actively recruited by political firms with an aggressive hiring strategy, who have already set aside the funds to invest in new hires. If hiring a player matters to you, you need to be on the hunt when they are.
You’ll have them around for pitch season.
In the coming months, you’ll need to renew contracts with your current clients and seek new clients to fill your roster and grow for 2022. This process is a bit different for every firm. I know some consultants who are booking a full New Year travel schedule while others are exclusively meeting by Zoom. But one thing remains the same, for your clients to be satisfied, they must have a deep bond of trust with their primary front-line contact from your team. Otherwise, you run a high risk that your client will seek guidance elsewhere.
There’s nothing better to begin establishing that trust than to include your front-line project manager in the initial pitch.
Any change in that delicate balance must be handled with the utmost care. So, if you expect to re-assign any current clients to a new project manager, the sooner you make that transition, the better your chances are of success.
They’re an investment in your company’s future.
There’s a popular Chinese proverb that says, “The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second-best time is now.”
While you may not be planning to retire or sell your company in the next two years, eventually your company will either have to run without you or it will cease to exist. At a very minimum, it will cease to grow.
Great hires will change the trajectory of your company. They’ll come to work with great ideas, energy, and enthusiasm. They’ll execute projects for more clients than you could do on your own, and they can handle tasks that you aren’t good at or you don’t like.
In short, great hires will make your life better. But unlike the Chinese proverb, they don’t grow on trees. You have to develop them yourself.
If you wait until you really need them, it’s too late.
Have you ever had a routine task dropped in your lap, and felt like it would just be easier to do it yourself than to explain to someone else and delegate it? If so, then you’ve been the victim of hiring too late.
Training someone to do the job without you takes longer than you think. And if someone can’t do their job without you hovering over their shoulder, you have just added a cost without adding throughput to increase your topline revenue.
If you’re convinced to invest a portion of your 2020 profits in developing future talent, ask yourself three questions:
- If you create a vision for what you want to be at this time in 2022, what will you look back on achieving to know you were successful?
- What staff positions must be created and filled to build the organization that can achieve these goals?
- What are the qualities each individual on the bus should each person have to be successful?
Nicole Schlinger is the founder and president of CampaignHQ. Since 1999, CampaignHQ has delivered millions of effective P2P text messages, voter ID, persuasion, advocacy, patch through, and GOTV calls for winning campaigns and conservative organizations.
