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| Building
a Successful Team
by Jim Rohn
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Once
you’ve set a goal for yourself as a leaderwhether it is
to create your own enterprise, energize your organization, build
a church, or excel in sports - the challenge is to find good
people to help you accomplish that goal. Gathering a successful
team of people is not only helpful, it’s necessary.
So to guide you in this daunting task of picking the right people,
I’m going to share with you a four-part checklist.
Number One: Check each candidate’s history.
Seek out available information regarding the individual’s
qualifi cations to do the job. That’s the most obvious
step.
Number Two: Check the person’s interest
level. If they are interested, they are probably a good prospect.
Sometimes
people can fake their interest, but if you’ve been a leader
for a while, you will be a capable judge of whether somebody
is merely pretending. |
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Arrange face-to-face conversation, and try to gauge his or her
sincerity to the best of your ability. You won’t hit the
bull’s-eye every time, but you can get pretty good at
spotting what I call true interest. |
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Three: Check the prospect’s responses. A response
tells you a lot about someone’s integrity, character,
and skills. Listen for responses like these: “You want
me to get there that early?” “You want me to stay
that late?” “The break is only ten minutes?”
“I’ll have to work two evenings a week and Saturdays?”
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You can’t ignore these clues. A person’s
responses are a good indication of his or her character and
of how hard he or she will work. Our attitudes refl ect our
inner selves, so even if we can fool others for a while, eventually,
our true selves will emerge.
And Number Four: Check results. The name of the game
is results. How else can we effectively judge an individual’s
performance? The fi nal judge must be results.
There are two types of results to look for. The fi rst is activity
results. Specific results are a reflection of an individual’s
productivity. |
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Sometimes
we don’t ask for this type of result right away, but it’s
pretty easy to check activity. If you work for a sales organization
and you’ve asked your new salesman, John, to make ten
calls in the fi rst week, it’s simple to check his results
on Friday. You say, “John, how many calls did you make?”
John says, “Well...” and starts telling a story,
making an excuse. You respond, “John, I just need a number
from one to ten.” If his results that fi rst week are
not good, it is a definite sign. You might try another week,
but if that lack of precise activity continues, you’ll
soon realize that John isn’t capable of becoming a member
of your team.
The second area you need to monitor is productivity. The ultimate
test of a quality team is measurable progress in a reasonable
amount of time. And here’s one of the skills of leadership:
be up front with your team as to what you expect them to produce.
Don’t let the surprises come later.
When you’re following this four-part checklist, your instincts
obviously play a major role. And your instincts will improve
every time you go through the process.
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Remember, building a good team will be one of your most challenging
tasks as a leader. It will reap you multiple rewards for a long
time to come.
To Your Success,
Jim Rohn |
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