How to form a management team
If the time has come to recognize the fact that you are not able to cope with the development of your own business alone, read this guide. It will help to determine who you should take to your team, how to find worthy candidates and how to hire them.
In the early stages of developing their own business, entrepreneurs, as a rule, prefer to cope with most tasks on their own. It is not surprising, because at first this approach is the least expensive and most convenient. However, as the company grows, you will increasingly have to break between a hundred cases. As a result, you will find that you simply do not have time to control the company's operations, sales, bookkeeping, fulfillment of obligations, marketing activities, and at the same time hope for business development.
If you have reached this point, then it’s time to think about the need to form yourself in helping a team of managers. You need to form a team that could control all the main activities of your company and bring it to a new level of development.
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To achieve this goal, it is necessary to distribute responsibilities according to ability. This means that it is necessary to distribute duties between colleagues so that they correspond to their level of knowledge and skills. You should not assume that they are your friends, relatives, or just nice personalities. By the way, this rule applies to you too. Do not nominate yourself for the position if you do not meet her. Many wise entrepreneurs hire a boss for themselves if they realize that their own skills and knowledge have nothing to do with management.
If it came to hiring a team of managers, you need to find people who can perform the following duties:
Chief Executive Officer (CEO)
The chief executive officer is the main boss who is responsible for everything. He determines the company's development strategy. He hires and creates a team of top managers. His word is crucial in the allocation of resources (read money) of the company. It is his face that appears on the cover of BusinessWeek magazine, no matter whether it is a question of a photo against a jury when settling lawsuits in court, or a picture taken on a huge yacht surrounded by luxury.
The chief executive officer must be able to think like a strategist, be above everyday routine issues, make a decision about whether the industry and the company are developing in the right direction. He should be able to choose the best path, following which the company would be able to carry out its activities in the future. He should be able to make lucrative deals.
But the most important ability that a CEO must possess is the ability to hire and fire personnel. An excellent team of top managers can more than pay back the shortcomings of the director. The chief executive officer can be able to work out a strategy, forecast the future and control the budget, but if he cannot put together a decent management team, he will have to solve all the issues alone. Thus, the chief executive officer must be able to identify and hire the best, dismiss those who do not fit, and skillfully manage the business.
You need to hire a professional chief executive officer if you feel that you are seriously and permanently bogged down in business and will not understand them soon. The executive director thinks about the direction in which the organization is moving, what kind of human resources and processes it needs to do this, and how it should function in the current market conditions. If you prefer to engage in specific tasks, rather than the company's development strategy, then you either have to hire an executive director who will do the work for you, or you need to change your way of thinking.
Chief Operating Officer (COO)
The chief operating officer solves issues related to the daily operations of the company. Imagine that UPS has to ship about three billion packages two weeks before Christmas. The work of the Chief Operating Officer allows the company to deliver the packages uninterruptedly, day after day. It is this manager who determines on the basis of what indicators it will be possible to conclude that the company is doing well. It is his team that creates a system for tracking these indicators and takes appropriate actions if the company does not cope with the obligations.
If you own a retail chain within the same region, the store manager will be able to handle the role of the chief operating officer. But if your network starts to enter the market in other regions, or if you need to make a lot of efforts to ensure that the company functions stably, then it's time to hire someone who can fully devote himself to performance, daily operations and routine issues.
The president
No one will answer you exactly what the president is doing. Dozens of interviewed executive directors, to the question “Who is the president of the company?”, Gave a variety of answers. Some said that the president’s responsibilities include general management: personnel, finance, strategy, while the chief operating officer is responsible for the organization’s day-to-day operations. Others, on the contrary, argued that the position of the company's president is identical to that of the chief operating officer, especially in small companies. At the same time, some executives argued that the president fulfills those duties that are not related to the duties of the executive director or the duties of the operating director. Sometimes a person is appointed to this position, who is needed to solve strategic issues, but who, in this case, will not directly relate to the top management of the company. In any case, you will need to think carefully about whether you need a person who will hold this position, or whether your company will have enough executive and operational directors.
Chief Financial Officer (CFO)
Everything is simple here: the chief financial officer is responsible for the company's finances. He develops budgets and financial strategies; determines what is best for the company: buy or rent. He creates a control system that allows you to track the financial position of the company. The chief financial officer of the company is the “bad guy” who will not let you buy first-class video conferencing equipment, and instead make you pay the loan. While you are wandering around the office, the CFO will be busy looking for profitable customers, lines of business, products, so that next year you can afford to buy the right equipment.
You will understand exactly at what point in time you need a financial director. If you do not spend the night without sleep, thinking about numbers, then you need to take on the team of someone who is willing to devote themselves to this. You need a person who wants to get a calculator or a clean ledger as a birthday present. Money is the “blood” of your company. Cash flow is all about entrepreneurship. If you do not know what the difference is between cash flow and profit, do not go, but run to the phone and look for a good financial director.
Marketing Director (CMO)
In recent years, companies have increasingly begun to introduce marketing experts to senior management, replacing vice presidents with them. This is explained by the fact that most of the “battles” in business are “battles” of a marketing nature. Therefore, the company's strategy depends on the marketing strategy. The marketing director develops a marketing strategy, which often includes a sales strategy, and monitors its implementation. The marketing director will examine your company's field of activity far and wide and help with product positioning and differentiation, make a list of distributors and force buyers to desire your product.
If the success of your company depends mainly on marketing, you definitely need the head of the relevant direction. You can also be this manager, but only if you have time to monitor your competitors, to implement your marketing strategy, and to do all other work, and to do it well. If you do not have time for this, look for a person with a cheerful character, a mobile phone in hand, who knows what the success of the company will bring and what will not.
Technical Director (CTO)
Most technical directors are not part of the top management of companies. The technical director should keep abreast of new trends in technology, integrate these trends into the company's development strategy, and ensure that the company keeps technology up to date when needed. The technical director should not buy new "toys" and advanced technologies just because they are the newest and most advanced.
You need a technical director if technology strongly influences the development of your business or industry in a strategic way. And if you are a techie and your company seriously depends on new technologies, then you can be a technical director.
Want to find out if your technical director knows what is the connection technology and strategy? Ask him how the programming language chosen by the company influences its development strategy. Perhaps your technical director thinks strategically if his answer is not reduced to a banal one: “This makes it easier to find programmers.”
Where to look for candidates
Unfortunately, good leaders do not grow on trees (and you would not want to hire those who grow). Since the success or failure of your business will depend on the decisions of such leaders, you will seek to hire the best. Unfortunately, neither a column with advertisements in newspapers, nor a bulletin board with ads on the Internet will help you. Headings with popular ads only attract the general public; people who have no other job prospects. Experienced managers do not place their resumes in the same sections in which advertisements for the sale of grills and agricultural equipment are published.
If you have available funds, seek the help of executive search agencies. Despite the fact that both agencies rely on their instincts, they conduct the appropriate checks and pre-selection of candidates. Therefore, when you have a need for an appropriate manager, you do not have to waste time on a preliminary search for candidates. Agencies can also search for talented executives in special closed circles and clubs and get involved with candidates you cannot directly meet. Such agencies can specialize in specific industries, functions, regions, levels of posts. So, if you decide to hire a manager, make sure you know who you are hiring.
To find a suitable candidate, you can contact your friends and colleagues. People with whom you have professional and personal relationships know exactly what kind of person you are looking for. Ask to be introduced to the candidate in person, and invite him to dinner to see how he suits you.
If you decide to find a candidate in certain circles, go straight to your intended goal. If you need a marketing director for a law firm, then you should attend a conference similar to the one that Raindance organizes in the field of legal sales and service organization. Such conferences often attract legal marketing executives. Be sure to use connections and contacts in various circles. Just remember that the search must be targeted.
If you met a good candidate, how to make sure that he can be appointed to the appropriate position? Managers directly affect the employees, structure and profits of the company. Therefore, you should take the time to carefully check the candidate. Call his recommenders and try to hear not only what they tell you, but also understand what was not said directly. The finance director, for example, could have been wasted at a previous job, however, his former employer may continue to claim that “he did his job well” (believe me, such stories happened). In the light of frankly telling stories, you need to hear more than just eulogies. For example, the phrase "Fred came to work and sat down at the table like a real soldier," could mean that Fred likes to leave work on Wednesdays to play golf with friends.
How to conduct interviews
If it is time to get acquainted with a candidate for company executives, try to find out the following:
Make sure your chosen candidate really knows his job. If a potential marketing director does not see the difference between product promotion and sales, or if the candidate for the position of financial director does not know how the LIFO method differs from the FIFO method, continue your search.
During the interview, try to find out if you can achieve mutual understanding. Answer the question: “Do you trust the candidate?” No matter how talented your interlocutors will be. It is important that the team was not rough. I have come across such stories when the chief operating officer, fearing to make a difficult decision, arranged the work of the entire organization for one talented, but extremely arrogant leader, whom everyone despised. And while one was shining with his talents, all the others who were in his environment, he had to suppress his abilities.
Talk to your candidate's former colleagues. Find out how good the candidate’s opinion about himself is with what other country partners and subordinates say about him. Find out if your candidate has coped with his job and what was his contribution to the company culture. For small organizations, corporate culture issues are no less important than performance issues.
Always try to hire smart people. There is one fairly good rule: “Every new employee must increase its average total IQ.” This means that all candidates should be a little bit smarter than you. And you should put up with it.
Find out how we train the candidate. Will he repeat the mistakes made in the past? Or did these mistakes teach him something and he is ready to apply his knowledge to your company?
During the interview, use methods that allow you to describe the behavior of the candidate. Do not ask questions regarding principles, knowledge, and do not play a game called “what if”. Instead, ask a potential member of the management team to share past experiences. Such stories, as well as possible, will tell you about the values, knowledge and abilities of the candidate. For example, ask the candidate for the post of financial director to tell about how he budgeted, or what he did if his subordinates exceeded the budget and asked for more funds.
Attention! Be careful when inviting friends or family members to work. Close people will rely on complete trust, as well as the fact that you simply believe in their high level of knowledge. Worse, you can really trust them and believe in their abilities until you hire and make sure of the opposite. If you are not careful and do not draw the line between work and friendship, at some point in time you may find that friendships will be buried under the ruins due to disagreements in the workplace.
Deal
Once you find a candidate you want to hire, you will need to somehow convince him to join your team. There is no single rule to follow in this case. Employees with time-wages would surely be seduced by the size of the remuneration. With heads everything is much more difficult. They tend to rely on company shares, high fees, and annual or even quarterly bonuses. Since the management's task is to lead the company to success, stipulate right away that the high fees and the right to purchase shares will depend on how effective the work of the company as a whole will be. While the payment of premiums and the distribution of profits should be based on the results achieved, the right to purchase shares at a reduced price should be tied to the indicators in the long term.
Of course, not all managers want to receive company shares. Undoubtedly, and you would like to hire such a person who would be happy to have the opportunity to do your favorite work and a modest salary. And believe me, such people exist! , , , , . , .
. , . , , , .
, . . , , . , , – . , , . , .
, , ? , , , . , , , .
, . , , , . , , , , . , , . , , .
, . – , , . , . , , , . , .
In the early stages of developing their own business, entrepreneurs, as a rule, prefer to cope with most tasks on their own. It is not surprising, because at first this approach is the least expensive and most convenient. However, as the company grows, you will increasingly have to break between a hundred cases. As a result, you will find that you simply do not have time to control the company's operations, sales, bookkeeping, fulfillment of obligations, marketing activities, and at the same time hope for business development.
If you have reached this point, then it’s time to think about the need to form yourself in helping a team of managers. You need to form a team that could control all the main activities of your company and bring it to a new level of development.
')
To achieve this goal, it is necessary to distribute responsibilities according to ability. This means that it is necessary to distribute duties between colleagues so that they correspond to their level of knowledge and skills. You should not assume that they are your friends, relatives, or just nice personalities. By the way, this rule applies to you too. Do not nominate yourself for the position if you do not meet her. Many wise entrepreneurs hire a boss for themselves if they realize that their own skills and knowledge have nothing to do with management.
If it came to hiring a team of managers, you need to find people who can perform the following duties:
Chief Executive Officer (CEO)
The chief executive officer is the main boss who is responsible for everything. He determines the company's development strategy. He hires and creates a team of top managers. His word is crucial in the allocation of resources (read money) of the company. It is his face that appears on the cover of BusinessWeek magazine, no matter whether it is a question of a photo against a jury when settling lawsuits in court, or a picture taken on a huge yacht surrounded by luxury.
The chief executive officer must be able to think like a strategist, be above everyday routine issues, make a decision about whether the industry and the company are developing in the right direction. He should be able to choose the best path, following which the company would be able to carry out its activities in the future. He should be able to make lucrative deals.
But the most important ability that a CEO must possess is the ability to hire and fire personnel. An excellent team of top managers can more than pay back the shortcomings of the director. The chief executive officer can be able to work out a strategy, forecast the future and control the budget, but if he cannot put together a decent management team, he will have to solve all the issues alone. Thus, the chief executive officer must be able to identify and hire the best, dismiss those who do not fit, and skillfully manage the business.
You need to hire a professional chief executive officer if you feel that you are seriously and permanently bogged down in business and will not understand them soon. The executive director thinks about the direction in which the organization is moving, what kind of human resources and processes it needs to do this, and how it should function in the current market conditions. If you prefer to engage in specific tasks, rather than the company's development strategy, then you either have to hire an executive director who will do the work for you, or you need to change your way of thinking.
Chief Operating Officer (COO)
The chief operating officer solves issues related to the daily operations of the company. Imagine that UPS has to ship about three billion packages two weeks before Christmas. The work of the Chief Operating Officer allows the company to deliver the packages uninterruptedly, day after day. It is this manager who determines on the basis of what indicators it will be possible to conclude that the company is doing well. It is his team that creates a system for tracking these indicators and takes appropriate actions if the company does not cope with the obligations.
If you own a retail chain within the same region, the store manager will be able to handle the role of the chief operating officer. But if your network starts to enter the market in other regions, or if you need to make a lot of efforts to ensure that the company functions stably, then it's time to hire someone who can fully devote himself to performance, daily operations and routine issues.
The president
No one will answer you exactly what the president is doing. Dozens of interviewed executive directors, to the question “Who is the president of the company?”, Gave a variety of answers. Some said that the president’s responsibilities include general management: personnel, finance, strategy, while the chief operating officer is responsible for the organization’s day-to-day operations. Others, on the contrary, argued that the position of the company's president is identical to that of the chief operating officer, especially in small companies. At the same time, some executives argued that the president fulfills those duties that are not related to the duties of the executive director or the duties of the operating director. Sometimes a person is appointed to this position, who is needed to solve strategic issues, but who, in this case, will not directly relate to the top management of the company. In any case, you will need to think carefully about whether you need a person who will hold this position, or whether your company will have enough executive and operational directors.
Chief Financial Officer (CFO)
Everything is simple here: the chief financial officer is responsible for the company's finances. He develops budgets and financial strategies; determines what is best for the company: buy or rent. He creates a control system that allows you to track the financial position of the company. The chief financial officer of the company is the “bad guy” who will not let you buy first-class video conferencing equipment, and instead make you pay the loan. While you are wandering around the office, the CFO will be busy looking for profitable customers, lines of business, products, so that next year you can afford to buy the right equipment.
You will understand exactly at what point in time you need a financial director. If you do not spend the night without sleep, thinking about numbers, then you need to take on the team of someone who is willing to devote themselves to this. You need a person who wants to get a calculator or a clean ledger as a birthday present. Money is the “blood” of your company. Cash flow is all about entrepreneurship. If you do not know what the difference is between cash flow and profit, do not go, but run to the phone and look for a good financial director.
Marketing Director (CMO)
In recent years, companies have increasingly begun to introduce marketing experts to senior management, replacing vice presidents with them. This is explained by the fact that most of the “battles” in business are “battles” of a marketing nature. Therefore, the company's strategy depends on the marketing strategy. The marketing director develops a marketing strategy, which often includes a sales strategy, and monitors its implementation. The marketing director will examine your company's field of activity far and wide and help with product positioning and differentiation, make a list of distributors and force buyers to desire your product.
If the success of your company depends mainly on marketing, you definitely need the head of the relevant direction. You can also be this manager, but only if you have time to monitor your competitors, to implement your marketing strategy, and to do all other work, and to do it well. If you do not have time for this, look for a person with a cheerful character, a mobile phone in hand, who knows what the success of the company will bring and what will not.
Technical Director (CTO)
Most technical directors are not part of the top management of companies. The technical director should keep abreast of new trends in technology, integrate these trends into the company's development strategy, and ensure that the company keeps technology up to date when needed. The technical director should not buy new "toys" and advanced technologies just because they are the newest and most advanced.
You need a technical director if technology strongly influences the development of your business or industry in a strategic way. And if you are a techie and your company seriously depends on new technologies, then you can be a technical director.
Want to find out if your technical director knows what is the connection technology and strategy? Ask him how the programming language chosen by the company influences its development strategy. Perhaps your technical director thinks strategically if his answer is not reduced to a banal one: “This makes it easier to find programmers.”
Where to look for candidates
Unfortunately, good leaders do not grow on trees (and you would not want to hire those who grow). Since the success or failure of your business will depend on the decisions of such leaders, you will seek to hire the best. Unfortunately, neither a column with advertisements in newspapers, nor a bulletin board with ads on the Internet will help you. Headings with popular ads only attract the general public; people who have no other job prospects. Experienced managers do not place their resumes in the same sections in which advertisements for the sale of grills and agricultural equipment are published.
If you have available funds, seek the help of executive search agencies. Despite the fact that both agencies rely on their instincts, they conduct the appropriate checks and pre-selection of candidates. Therefore, when you have a need for an appropriate manager, you do not have to waste time on a preliminary search for candidates. Agencies can also search for talented executives in special closed circles and clubs and get involved with candidates you cannot directly meet. Such agencies can specialize in specific industries, functions, regions, levels of posts. So, if you decide to hire a manager, make sure you know who you are hiring.
To find a suitable candidate, you can contact your friends and colleagues. People with whom you have professional and personal relationships know exactly what kind of person you are looking for. Ask to be introduced to the candidate in person, and invite him to dinner to see how he suits you.
If you decide to find a candidate in certain circles, go straight to your intended goal. If you need a marketing director for a law firm, then you should attend a conference similar to the one that Raindance organizes in the field of legal sales and service organization. Such conferences often attract legal marketing executives. Be sure to use connections and contacts in various circles. Just remember that the search must be targeted.
If you met a good candidate, how to make sure that he can be appointed to the appropriate position? Managers directly affect the employees, structure and profits of the company. Therefore, you should take the time to carefully check the candidate. Call his recommenders and try to hear not only what they tell you, but also understand what was not said directly. The finance director, for example, could have been wasted at a previous job, however, his former employer may continue to claim that “he did his job well” (believe me, such stories happened). In the light of frankly telling stories, you need to hear more than just eulogies. For example, the phrase "Fred came to work and sat down at the table like a real soldier," could mean that Fred likes to leave work on Wednesdays to play golf with friends.
How to conduct interviews
If it is time to get acquainted with a candidate for company executives, try to find out the following:
Make sure your chosen candidate really knows his job. If a potential marketing director does not see the difference between product promotion and sales, or if the candidate for the position of financial director does not know how the LIFO method differs from the FIFO method, continue your search.
During the interview, try to find out if you can achieve mutual understanding. Answer the question: “Do you trust the candidate?” No matter how talented your interlocutors will be. It is important that the team was not rough. I have come across such stories when the chief operating officer, fearing to make a difficult decision, arranged the work of the entire organization for one talented, but extremely arrogant leader, whom everyone despised. And while one was shining with his talents, all the others who were in his environment, he had to suppress his abilities.
Talk to your candidate's former colleagues. Find out how good the candidate’s opinion about himself is with what other country partners and subordinates say about him. Find out if your candidate has coped with his job and what was his contribution to the company culture. For small organizations, corporate culture issues are no less important than performance issues.
Always try to hire smart people. There is one fairly good rule: “Every new employee must increase its average total IQ.” This means that all candidates should be a little bit smarter than you. And you should put up with it.
Find out how we train the candidate. Will he repeat the mistakes made in the past? Or did these mistakes teach him something and he is ready to apply his knowledge to your company?
During the interview, use methods that allow you to describe the behavior of the candidate. Do not ask questions regarding principles, knowledge, and do not play a game called “what if”. Instead, ask a potential member of the management team to share past experiences. Such stories, as well as possible, will tell you about the values, knowledge and abilities of the candidate. For example, ask the candidate for the post of financial director to tell about how he budgeted, or what he did if his subordinates exceeded the budget and asked for more funds.
Attention! Be careful when inviting friends or family members to work. Close people will rely on complete trust, as well as the fact that you simply believe in their high level of knowledge. Worse, you can really trust them and believe in their abilities until you hire and make sure of the opposite. If you are not careful and do not draw the line between work and friendship, at some point in time you may find that friendships will be buried under the ruins due to disagreements in the workplace.
Deal
Once you find a candidate you want to hire, you will need to somehow convince him to join your team. There is no single rule to follow in this case. Employees with time-wages would surely be seduced by the size of the remuneration. With heads everything is much more difficult. They tend to rely on company shares, high fees, and annual or even quarterly bonuses. Since the management's task is to lead the company to success, stipulate right away that the high fees and the right to purchase shares will depend on how effective the work of the company as a whole will be. While the payment of premiums and the distribution of profits should be based on the results achieved, the right to purchase shares at a reduced price should be tied to the indicators in the long term.
Of course, not all managers want to receive company shares. Undoubtedly, and you would like to hire such a person who would be happy to have the opportunity to do your favorite work and a modest salary. And believe me, such people exist! , , , , . , .
. , . , , , .
, . . , , . , , – . , , . , .
, , ? , , , . , , , .
, . , , , . , , , , . , , . , , .
, . – , , . , . , , , . , .
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/294506/
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