STOP RECRUITING GOOD PEOPLE …
AND GET THE RIGHT ONES INSTEAD
Following some keys techniques to populate your business with the right people will make your role as manager or leader that much easier .
WORDS : LEISL KLAEBE
I n the classic book Good to Great , Jim Collins wrote ‘ to build a successful organisation and team you must get the right people on the bus .’ His research showed that great companies do this – and then they put them in the right seats .
Populating your business with the right people goes hand-in-hand with recruiting for cultural fit ( search fitnessnetwork . com . au / resourcelibrary for previous article on this topic ). If you have inherited a team and have the wrong people on the bus or the right people in the wrong seats , then you have to address this as the first order of business . Virgin Active has a key philosophy of ‘ people first ’, and it works . For example , a driven individual who is single-mindedly focused on their goals and not much of a team player may not be a great fit for the group fitness team , but they could have just the traits that the club ’ s sales manager is looking for – so they could still be the right fit for the business .
There are a few key ways to get the right people onboard in your fitness business .
1 Define who you are and what you want
First , you must have a clear idea of what you and your business / club stand for , who you are , where you are going , and who you need to help you achieve those goals . To know who the right people are for your team , you must have complete clarity about what qualities the ideal person will have . Ensure you have a process that allows you to identify , recruit and retain these ‘ right people ’. Create a benchmark or standard by which you measure the candidates you are considering .
Someone who is the right fit for one company may be the wrong fit for another one . When I recruit for my Virgin Active Group Exercise team I make sure that people understand that for me there is no ‘ I ’ in team . A team is a group of people working together towards a common goal . I have no room on my team for anyone who is playing for themselves , who wants to be the star of the show or who prefers to work as an individual rather than a team player . When you recruit with very clear objectives you can get the right mix of talents , skillsets , personalities , backgrounds and styles to enable you to get the right people in the right seats on the bus .
2 Hire hard and manage easy
Getting the wrong people off the bus , or moving the right people from a wrong seat to the right seat , can be a very difficult process . Finding the right people can be
26 | NETWORK SUMMER 2016