Estimated reading time: 4 minutes
Most companies have a quote such as “People are our most appreciable assets”. This sounds great, but is it actually the case in practice?
How does a financial specialist manage assets?
They compound them.
They want the money to work for them and multiply the results.
They call this “the leveraging effect”, a small lever moving a large piece.
Although this is possible with money, this leveraging is even more powerful when applied to people.
The compounding power of teamwork
If money can work for you, do you have people working for you?
Are you doing everything yourself, or do you have people adding value to your goals?
Here is how you can get a team or network of people to work for you to maximise your success.
1. Make a thoughtful initial investment
Hiring the best people for your team is the key to your success. In my last executive role, the company’s President told me that my primary role was dealing with the wrong casting, as he called it. As a passionate leadership trainer, I could improve the existing team, but soon realised that it was not enough and that I had to build a new team more closely aligned with the company’s vision.
Do you have the right casting in your team? Do they fully support your vision, identify with it and contribute to it with all their energy and ideas?
If not, you should consider reviewing your team and their alignment with your vision, and if necessary, replace the team.
2. Contribute regularly to growth
Would you leave it to die if you found a beautiful plant that matches your interior design?
Of course not!
Do you nourish, feed and treasure the team that you have?
I don’t believe that we should motivate our team members. If we have the right people in the team, they will already be motivated, but we can kill that motivation by leaving obstacles in their path.
Even more than that, are you expanding their skills and empowering them with more freedom, resources, and possibilities to fully bring their creativity, expertise, and passion for adding value to the organisation?
If you see yourself as a coach, you can develop them without micro-managing them.
Additionally, are you supporting the team in their respective styles and personalities so they can work together optimally as a powerful team?
3. Realise the value of time
Are your employees a commodity that can be easily replaced or a long-term investment?
It is not difficult to determine whether employees are just in it for the job or are intrapreneurs who see themselves as long-term team members focused on innovation.
The difference lies in how they infuse their vision and heart into their jobs, developing both short-term actions and longer-term innovations.
Not everybody has the mentality of an intrapreneur – an entrepreneur within the company; however, you can empower each team member to improve their immediate environment, for example, by making proactive decisions to enhance the client experience.
4. Reflect on your rate of return
Three questions are essential to finding solutions that will support your bottom line and, therefore, your rate of return:
1. Is there a placement issue? Are people in my team serving in their strength zone?
2. Is there a people issue? Is this a conflict resolution or communication issue within the team?
3. Is there a performance issue? Did I invest in the team and build the proper accountability?
5. Adjust for inflation and other factors
A financial plan never runs as planned! That’s for sure!
What does a good asset manager do?
They constantly adjust their investments to reflect the current state of the assets.
You also have no control over the past. Mistakes will be made, that’s for sure.
Therefore, learn from them, compassionately support your team in learning from them, and apply the lessons learned.
6. Compound growth
Imagine having a team of world-class leaders who require your approval for every decision.
You will create a bottleneck in your organisation, slowing the reaction and proactivity and warning them.
What if you had world-class leaders who were not only empowered to make their own decisions, bringing their passion, ideas, and innovation but also able to raise leaders who are the same?
Wow, that would be a dream!
This can be a reality in your organisation.
