Friday, July 13, 2012

This Just Isn't Working Out



I know nothing about running a business. Really, I don't. I have aspirations to one day, though, and I fervently read articles and blogs posted on the subject. Like any startup, you have to start small and work very hard at securing contracts, building a reputation, building a decent cashflow and, eventually, hiring staff.

Knowing Who (Not, or How, or When) to Hire


One of the consistent themes I've come across is: "how to hire the right people" (or, "how not to hire the wrong people", depending on which side of the current business optimism scale you're on). It's always been difficult, and always will be. Finding the perfect candidate is a near-impossibility. So how do you manage that? Well, according to the common-knowledge HR mantra, I guess you:

  • Attract (advertise; get great candidates)
  • Retain (incentivize; and)
  • Develop (grow them)

If you're in the right line-of-sight business, development and/or incentivized opportunities for employed staff are real, and they should be consistently aware of that. If they're not, you should be worried, because perhaps they're not committed to what you're trying to achieve. If they are, another challenge lies ahead: how to challenge, develop and grow them. Some grow naturally - they get older, wiser, are more consistent, settle into the role. They're good at what they do. You appreciate, and reward them for it. Everyone wins. 

So, what happens if you hire the wrong person? 

If it was me, I would critically examine every step in my recruitment process:
  1. Why did I hire an additional staff member? Was it absolutely necessary?
  2. How effectively did I attract? What did I miss during interviews?
  3. Why can I not retain and develop that person, instead of firing them?
As a startup/small company, to me, it really boils down to Q#1: why did I hire? And then, stemming from that I, of course, I would extrapolate further on rambling things like sustainability, market opportunity and awareness, and effective resource allocation. But that's just me. As I said, I know nothing about running a business.

If it Must


Ok, so you're stuck with a dud employee. Now what.

It's taken me a while, but I'm a strong believer that there's a place for everyone to develop their potential. Personally I would like to think that I can still offer the worst employee in my company a job. Doesn't matter what - making coffee, filing paper, downloading torrents for me, whatever. Hopefully I diversify enough that none of those would be necessary, but I digress. 

If I, as an employer, can't make a pre-considered, conscious provision for that possibility, then I'm not really qualified to take on any staff in the first place. 

But let's assume you're in this situation, and you simply can't afford to keep them on anymore. You issue a redundancy notice, maybe with a decent paycheck. Nothing wrong with that. Except that, as a startup, you should know that:
  • They will never recommend any of their friends come and work for you
  • People, including your clients or customers, will hear about it, and your reputation will suffer
  • Other staff will become jittery
Which brings me to back to, well...you get the idea (see numbered list above)

Can We Move On to the Point, Please?

  • Don't just interview. Engage. If you're simply looking for "resources", you're in the wrong business
  • Extend - you're either looking in the wrong places, or you're not looking in the right places
  • Back to Basics - re-evaluate what you're about, and communicate it clearly; consistent, constant feedback
  • Everyone Has Potential - don't let it go to waste. Attraction vs Retention costs were 3:1 last I checked
  • If you build a trend of firing staff, you're fucked. Re-evaluate, and go it alone

Hiring staff is hard work, but firing is a much worse consequence, as an employer. In all ways. Make it the absolute last option if possible - the "quick fix" you desire is really pointing to much more deep-seated, underlying problems in your own entrepreneurial abilities. 

Wednesday, July 11, 2012

The Blog Lives

For better or worse. I must be honest - since discontinuing this blog in late 2010, I don't consistently follow any blogs. I now rely on Twitter for that. I follow other people who blog. They might follow other blogs. And eventually tweet interesting articles to their followers. I like that. Why? Well, firstly, most people have an instinctual reaction to share something that's interesting and relevant to them. Everyone wants to read (or, nowadays, more like scan) a good article or post, rather than continuously watch what the author is going to say next. Seriously, if you follow celebrity bloggers or even serious newspaper columnists, you have a reality check overdue at your local GP.

Twenty minutes ago, I tried to reimport/restore my original blog posts. Unfortunately, two years ago, I didn't have the foresight to not export my entire blog to my now-fried ex-lease, cheap-as-hell, second-hand HP notebook's shitty hard drive. As an XML file, of course. Which, probably, didn't conform to any W3C standards, let alone NATO protocols for common decency and humanity. That the ignition of the circuitboard nearly singed my eyeballs, and that my 20-odd blog posts went up in pretty blue flames along with the sanctity and sincerity of the words expressed therein, is history.

I will probably be less committed to posting regular entries to this blog than the last. But from that painful truth, that self-admonishment that accompanies it, one thing remains true: dude, nobody gives a fuck.