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Posts from the Eric's Blog category
A-Players Want to Have an Impact
A-Players want to make money, yes, but typically they want to do more – they want to leave their mark and have an impact on an organization. They have good ideas. They don’t just want their ideas heard. They want the resources and the freedom to implement those ideas and make a difference.
The New York Times ran an article about a year ago where this dynamic was discussed. People move from Google to Facebook and from Facebook to the “next big thing” because they want to hit it big financially, but also because the vibrant, flexible company they joined has become so huge that they can’t have (or at least don’t think they can have) the impact they once did.
What’s the implication for your business? You have to both be and perceived to be a place where great people can make their mark. A-players don’t want to hide behind bureaucracy. They want direct access to people who can “green light” their projects. They want to be included in your inner circle. They want freedom to try new things.
The time to think about assembling your dream team is now, before the economy heats up. Who are the handful of individuals you want to attract and hire to your business? How can you provide them with the environment they want to give them the money they need and the chance to make a big IMPACT?
See “Another Difficulty for a Microsoft-Yahoo Marriage: Recruiting,” Published: February 4, 2008
“She thought I knew a lot because I knew different things from her…”
“She thought I knew a lot because I knew different things from her…”
Jay Gatsby in The Great Gatsby
Stop being intimidated by people’s knowledge – for the most part, they just have a different set of experiences than do you. Of the 6.5 billion people on the planet, there are very few true geniuses. 99.9% of people have just had more more experience doing a particular thing than you have had. Quit being so intimidated and impressed by other people. Stop falling into the “genius trap,” always assuming that there are people “out there” who really know what they are talking about. Focus on what success looks like for you, focus on doing what you do well, and doing it over and over. From such experience flows knowledge and understanding, which translates into the expertise for which other people are so hungry.
Domino’s Pizza and Building a Team of A-Players
Last January, the New York Times ran a great article about building a business by creating a team of A-players (For a Franchise, Success is in the Hiring; January 6, 2008). The article introduces Dave Melton, who owns 5 Domino’s Pizza stores in NYC with total sales of $5 million, has 100 employees – and experiences essentially zero turnover.
This retention rate would be impressive in any business, but the average turnover rate for “limited service restaurants” is 51%. In other words, a similar franchise owner is losing 50 employees every year while Dave Melton loses 1 or 2. How did he do it? Here are some points that I pulled out of this article that are relevant to any business when it comes to finding, hiring, leading, and keeping A-players.
He knows his A-player profile. In my upcoming book How to Hire A-Players, I talk about the importance of understanding the A-player profile for key roles in your business. You can tell Dave Melton understands his A-player profile. He says in this article that he looks for people who “can work quickly and have nice personalities.” My guess is that there are few other things he looks for as well, but don’t dismiss this basic profile. A lot of people have bubbly personalities but can’t get things done. Some people can get things done but are surly. He is looking for the combination.
Focuses on creating a great customer experience. Melton lists the bad behaviors that got some of his early, bad hires fired. They include “arguing with customers, refusing to wear uniforms in the correct way, visiting friends en route to delivering pizza, and failing to show up for work. What do all of these have in common? They all create a bad experience for customers. Let’s face it, the average retail experience in the United States is not impressive. If you can put a staff together that creates a good customer experience (much less an exceptional one), that is going to show up in your customer retention. It’s pretty easy to connect the dots between an exceptional retail staff and customer retention.
Creates an Internal Talent Incubator. You wouldn’t think that a Domino’s Pizza franchise could be a talent incubator, but read this article and you realize that Melton has accomplished it. He starts all his employees as hourly workers who make minimum wage + tips delivering pizzas by bicycle. But they can end up as Store Managers making $70,000 annually.
Shows People a Career Path. Again, you don’t associate the concept of Career Path with working at a place like Domino’s, but Melton realizes that you don’t have to send someone to Wharton to provide them with a career path. Melton and his wife Angie (who helps to run the franchise) encouraged one of their employees to take a New York City food safety certification course to “enhance her credentials.” The employee’s initial reaction? “I was a little skeptical. I don’t like tests. But I took it and I passed. I did well. I got a raise and I got a bonus for passing the test.” (She also got promoted to assistant manager).
Promotes Internally. Melton promotes from within when he has a job opening. When a company can promote good people from its ranks into leadership roles, you know they are doing a great job of hiring the right people, developing them, and keeping them around.
Taps into undervalued pools of talent. The article quotes Zia Shah, 35, a native of Pakistan with a degree in business who came to New York at age 26 looking for more opportunity. He started delivering pizzas for Mr. Melton’s Domino’s franchise and today is a manager of one of his 5 stores. Here is a very sharp, educated guy who was “overeducated” for his initial role but hung on because of the opportunity that was ahead of him. I am sure he was a lot hungrier for opportunity than many of his 26-year-old American peers. Sometimes finding and hiring A-players is like being a value investor in stocks. You have to find people who have been undervalued by the market and give them a chance.
Gets entry-level hires from employee referrals. Today, this Domino’s franchise gets most of its employees from employee referrals. I make the point in How to Hire A-Players that recruiting is just marketing and sales in different garb. We all know that positive word-of-mouth is critical in marketing and sales. The same thing is true in creating a team of A-players. If you hire great people and give them opportunities to succeed and win, they are going to tell their friends! Your job is to get your employees engaged in this A-Player mindset.
Grew his business organically. Melton grew his business from 3 stores to 5 in part because he already had groomed the talent to do so. Show me your business plan for growth over the next 3-5 years, and I will ask you if you are developing the talent today to fuel that growth.
You can find the New York Times article For a Franchise, Success is in the Hiring here:
