Last night I was watching DIY SOS hosted by Nick Knowles. The house in question was a two bedroom bungalow that the owner was trying to expand into a four bedroom home to accommodate his family. The three children were living in one bedroom and the roof leaked and part of the extension meant that the house was exposed to the elements. No wonder the family was challenged and the health of the family was suffering. My heart went out to the family and in particular the husband who with limited building skills was seeking to provide for his family the best he could in between his job as a teacher.
As I watched the programme Nick Knowles said something that so resonated with me. “Success in completing this home would never be possible by just one man, it takes a team of experts to make things work”. This made me think about my own business and that of other solopreneurs and small business owners. How often do we think that we need to do everything? How rarely do we ask for help? Yet what was apparent from last nights programme was that the team of helpers, all experts in different fields, in nine days were able to transform the entire house with over 3,000 hours work. It was estimated that the owner would have taken seven years to achieve the same thing.
This real example demonstrates so clearly the importance of team work to success, and yet how many business owners try to do everything themselves, never bringing in the support that they need. And yet if they did I wonder how much their business could sky rocket to the next level. The business owner could leverage their time doing the things they love and are best at, whilst others complete the other very necessary business activities that need to occur. So how do you know who to hire and what activities you should do and those you should delegate? One tool I have used that has been invaluable for me is Talent Dynamics.
This profiling tool helps you get to understand where your strengths lie and what activities you should be undertaking. Then armed with this information you can then hire people who are best suited to the other roles. So what I discovered from taking my Talent Dynamics test was that I was a Creator. I simply love writing blogs and articles, developing new products/services/businesses. Sure I can do my accounts but that is not the best use of my time as it takes me considerable effort to motivate myself to do my accounts, as well as hours to get the work done. I always find things to divert my attention and so the job takes much longer than it should. Think of all that wasted energy that I could use on growing my business if only I had a book-keeper in place to take care of the financial aspects of the business on a day-to-day basis for me.
For small businesses there is definitely a tipping point – the point at which you think you can’t afford any support but if you don’t invest in this support then your business will not grow. I realise that for many people taking on team members can be a daunting task but there are a plethora of ways that you can do this now, hiring people by the hour, project or on short-term contracts. The flexibility is amazing. And once you know your Talent Dynamics profile you will know which tasks that would be best for you to outsource. If you are interviewing for a full-time person you might even want to consider making the interviewees take a Talent Dynamics test. Then you would know if they were best suited for the role that you were recruiting for. You can take your Talent Dynamics Test here.
Please leave any comments on what activities you have decided to outsource in order to grow your business because as we always say “Success is a Team Sport”. Who is playing on your team?.
Julia Felton (aka The Business Wrangler) is the founder of Business HorsePower. Business leaders, entrepreneurs and executives hire her to accelerate their business performance by harnessing the energy of their people to work more collaboratively together. By aligning purpose with actions the team achieves exponential results as everyone starts pulling in the same direction.
Julia believes that business is a force for good and through designing purpose-driven businesses that leverage the laws of nature, and the herd, you can create businesses founded on the principles of connection, collaboration and community that make a significant impact in the world.
