If you’re still hiring “employees”, then you’re still in the land of the 20th century.  In today’s fast moving, challenging world you need to recruit nothing but business athletes.  These are fearless individuals that take the ball and sprint through a maze of challenges to the finish line.  These folks don’t dance around a problem, they don’t wait and they don’t whine.  They carve their own future and enjoy every minute of working alongside others like themselves on a common mission.

Here is a list of 10 ingredients found in these individuals.  If you have 75% of these, then you aren’t an “employee”, you’re an athlete in today’s work world.

In Early, Out Late, Never Counts the Hours

A business athlete works long hours and loves every minute of what they do.  They’re very hard working, frighteningly efficient and will never let you do the work for them.   They don’t spend their time finding extra ways to live off the company, but rather have the company’s interest in mind at all times.

Their Work Becomes a Part of Their Life

A business athlete doesn’t end the day at 5 PM, or the equivalent of 8 hours.   Their commitment and dedication is to the mission, not just the money, and this is fully apparent in after hour emails, texts and phone calls.  Be weary of keeping anyone on your team who shuts off after a certain time.  More than often you will end up driving them, rather than them driving the company.

Skin Thick as a Dinosaur’s

A business athlete understands that intense work can create intense conversations and criticisms.   They understand that sometimes information must be communicated with a tone and passion that sets the appropriate intensity and urgency for a project or challenge at hand.  Their mind is not fragile and can withstand any harshness in delivery for the sake of accomplishing the mission.

Driven to No End

These folks are driven and are an absolute source of energy. They are usually ambitious and almost never satisfied with the status quo, seeking self betterment in nearly every corner.   They will go to their managers with ideas, projects, challenges and solutions to keep themselves, their teams and the company growing. When the work load increases, they simply smile back.

Perfection is Never Perfect

More than often their own harshest critic, a business athlete is almost never satisfied with the quality of their work.   They constantly seek betterment and work long hours to ensure the quality of their work remains optimum.  Their drive for more and their drive for better often serve as a lightening rod for their teammates and colleagues.

Smart

In any business, its important for team members to be able to make quick decisions with less than 100% of the necessary information.   A business athlete is smart and can take the information available, deduce, induce and extrapolate estimations by which they can make a quick and quality decision.  They make intelligent assumptions to maintain speed and keep moving forward.

Proactive as Paranoia

A business athlete is driven paranoid with a pro-activeness that is made to ensure their success.  They often have a plan A, B and C for everything.  They continuously double check and triple check their work for quality and accuracy.  And.. rarely will they miss directives, fail to update managers or be caught missing a deadline.   They are proactive and will not allow circumstances or the environment to blind side them or derail their missions.

Whining is For Losers

Business athletes don’t whine, they don’t blame others and they have very little excuses.   They take what they have and get the job done.  They are identifiers of problems and makers of solutions and almost never make it personal.  Every struggle in their way to success is viewed as a challenge.

Strong as An Ox

Its not easy for circumstances of a challenge to knock these folks off their course.   They will speak their mind, they will never take no for an answer and if something gets in their way, they will move it.   They are strong willed and rarely have trouble maintaining control over the destiny of their initiatives.

Confident Enough to Make Mistakes

Its takes a certain amount of confidence to take risks knowing you may fail.   These folks aren’t middlemen, they have substantial skin in the game.  They personally take on Big Hairy Audacious Goals that not only promote their own growth but also the growth of those around them.   They expect a lot from themselves and they’ll commit to big quotas, take on difficult projects and set nearly impossible deadlines knowing full well they may fail.  They always see the glass half full and they shoot for the moon every time.

I was asked by Forbes today to offer up some experience around some actions companies take during tough economic times like these to maintain or even increase employee happiness and wellbeing. We all know that without a happy and thriving team, there’s no growth, especially in a recession.

At DotNext we strive to employ a two pronged approach to increasing team happiness and wellbeing during recession times like these.  First, we immediately roll out substantial, structured and predictable performance based compensation in the form of bonuses and spiffs. Nearly anyone, including managers and directors, can earn additional compensation if they are able to perform above general standards on a challenge by challenge basis. As a result, regardless of economic slow downs, team members are still able to maintain control over their financial destiny.

Second, we aggressively enhance the quality, frequency and quantity of spirited culture activities that play directly into happiness and wellbeing.  For example, our team holds competitive monthly ping pong tournaments, gathers weekly at pubs and cafes, has weekly trivia contests and just recently joined a corporate softball league. Simply put, there is a direct correlation between increased positive cultural events and team happiness and production.

Each of these efforts enhances our level of happiness, strengthens our bonds and positions us for great production and growth even in recession times.

Best,

Ben Behrouzi

Startups and startup executives all over Silicon Valley intensely debate around how, when and how much governance startups should apply to their operations when considering the challenges facing them at the moment and the challenges that lie ahead.  These sometimes grueling discussions take place at executive meetings, board meetings and manager meetings when a startup moves form one phase of growth to another.  The inflection points between each phase of growth manifest challenges and hurdles that begin to frustrate managers as they operate.  It is important to note that these challenges and frustrations are supremely important and management’s actions around them are critical, as the decisions made will either suffocate or propel the business.  I refer to the proper management of these growing pains as progressive governance.

As with anything else, a company is a progressively evolving entity that passes through different phases in the course of its evolution.  However in a startup everything is and must be accelerated in order to gain the critical mass and stability necessary for sustained growth and development.  

Imagine the difference between the way a jet’s mechanics are situated during its take off and climb versus once its reaches cruising altitude.  You cannot govern the jet or the business with methods that belong to a different phase of its evolution, else neither the jet nor the business will take flight.  

Too often startups make the mistake of applying too much brakes and governance to alleviate the growing pains and challenges they face.  Managers instill too many protocols, policies, procedures that weigh down a business during a time where speed and agility are everything.  It is supremely important for managers to detect the problems and apply the exact amount of governance necessary without comprising the climb of the business.  

Managers with little experience with startups, and boards with traditional seat holders tend to want to drive a business to have the same governance they have experienced at companies at much further positions in the course of maturation.  Too often startups fail because they have busied themselves in making everything run smoothly during a phase where growth and product development are everything.  What is often overlooked is the fact that there is no point in having a smoothly operating operation that has no revenues or growth trajectory.  

Clearly there is a certain amount of governance that needs to be put in place before a business steps on the accelerator, but the growing pains made present as a company moves from one phase of development to another must be met with a progressive governance application that takes into account what is most important and maintain intense focus on the ball.

Managers in startups have to learn to walk the line of too much and too little governance to keep the business moving forward while mitigating the occurrences of inefficiencies and incidents but to a degree where the business still maintains climb.

Best,

If you liked this post, follow me on Twitter.com/benbehrouzi.

Ben Behrouzi

Founder

DotNext Inc.