Lessons for Rebirth
9. Till.
The crop and the soil need to be turned every year. To reach new heights and continually be bountiful you need to have expectations. Evaluate your employees, products, and services. Similarly, leaders should be evaluated by their employees. Everyone should be analyzed. Ideally, this should be done once per quarter; once a year at minimum. Standards should be challenged and raised. Those who don’t measure up should be given a chance to rise, but if they can’t improve over the next two quarters, they should be replaced.
Task: Conduct quarterly employee reviews. They can be 30 minutes long. It should be a checklist of previously agreed upon goals and objectives. Similarly, they should be able to voice their thoughts on your performance. Don’t let issues slide. Be clear with people. Guide them and help them but if they don’t eventually measure up, they will bring down others. Great people like to work with other great people. Create this culture by having the courage to terminate those who can’t or don’t rise to the occasion.
Human Resources should continually be sourcing talent. Don’t wait for a job opening. It takes time to find great people who are the right fit. Recruit, interview, and keep their resumes on file if there’s nothing available at the moment.