I value and trust your opinion as you help me make decisions that impact my business.
Who Do You Have in the Booth?
Back in December, the Washington Redskins were playing the Vikings in Minnesota. The Redskins were up by 11 when they turned the ball over. The crowd went crazy at the Metrodome, and the Vikings seemed to have recaptured the momentum and to have a chance to win the game. Then Redskins Coach Joe Gibbs challenged the play, saying the Vikings had 12 men on the field. The challenge was upheld. The Redskins got the ball back, scored a touchdown, and iced the win.
As I watched this unfold, I immediately thought – some assistant coach high up in the Redskins booth just saved the game. It was Bill Khayat, a Redskins assistant coach who caught the extra man on the field. Joe Gibbs, as seasoned and accomplished a coach as he is, could never have caught that infraction himself. He needed someone else to be paying attention, someone who was good and someone he trusted.
Performance Principle: Who do you have in the booth for your business? As your business grows, you need people you can trust. If you attempt to stay in control of every aspect of your business, you will start to miss opportunities. I see this in my clients all the time. In retail, a great employee is someone you trust to represent your store to your customers and to your community. In financial services, a great employee is someone who communicates to clients that their priorities and their goals truly matter. In architecture, a great employee is someone who can manage a complicated project on time, on budget, with few if any mistakes. In the kitchen & bath industry, a great employee is someone who knows how to sell and knows how to design.
Questions to Consider:
- First, how many of your current employees do you trust to run the operations if you are not there? Do you have at least one person that can oversee the operation in your absence?
- Second, how many of your current employees are capable of generating new business? Do you have people on staff with the combination of sales skills and product or service knowledge required to open up new business relationships?
- Third, how many of your current employees are true ambassadors for your business? Do you have at least one person in your organization who represents your business to the outside world as well as you do?
