Identifying and Leveraging Your Star Players

When looking to overhaul your small business, you need to rely on the strongest members of your organization. Every company has a few people who provide substantially greater value. Leveraging these people's ideas and insights will help you build a stronger small business.

The purpose of this exercise is for you to identify people who work faster, deliver higher quality results, have greater integrity, think out of the box, and are the most reliable. These are the most valuable people in your company, are core of your organization's success, and must be valued as such. You should work strategically to develop strong, trusting relationships with these people on both a personal and professional level. They know your business and have the insight into how to make it better. Many small business owners and managers unknowingly take these people for granted. Others try to engage the star players, but fall short of developing the kind of relationship needed to unlock their additional potential. Only a few managers successfully leverage these most valuable people's ideas and insights to guide the direction of the business.

By identifying your star players, you can work to develop stronger relationships and take steps to decrease the chance that they will consider leaving your company. You should not be willing to lose these assets to another business, and especially to your competition.

Creating Your Star Players List
When going through this exercise, some managers find it easiest to imagine that they are only able to keep 20% of their staff. In that scenario, whom would you keep? The following are six things that you should consider while developing your top 20% list. You may have additional factors or skills that differentiate the star players, but these should give you a good start.

• Experience - Although experience may be a factor in deciding who belongs on the list, do not rely on seniority as a key factor. People who have been around a company a long time can sometimes become complacent, may know too much to be flexible and creative, and may be so accustomed to "process" that they will fight against needed change.
• Passion - Look for people filled with passion about the success of your company, and are willing to work to make it more successful.
• Drive - Find employees driven enough to work through issues, and who will not easily accept defeat. Many of the greatest successes come from people who are determined to succeed both personally and professionally.
• Creativity - It is good to have people who execute a defined process well. However, those who creatively think beyond process are the ones who will bring fresh insight needed to optimize your business. The best people will know the process well, but will see opportunity for change and improvement.
• Respect - Employees well respected by their piers most likely belong on your list. However, be careful to make sure that these people also respect authority and leadership in your organization. A well-respected person who causes descent toward the leadership will be a liability, not an asset.
• Contribution - It is possible to have an employee who meets all of the above criteria, but does not make an actual, hands-on contribution to your business. Give greater consideration to those who make a hands-on contribution and steer away from employees who have forgotten how to "get their hands dirty".

Action Items
Over the next two weeks, execute the following tasks as part of your Small Business Overhaul.

• Create Your Top 20% List - Using the above guidelines, identify the top 20% of your staff with the help of the above criteria. This should be an elite group of people. Do not let yourself include 50% of your company. You are not looking for good employees, but are identifying the absolute most valuable at the current moment.
• Get to Know Your List - Schedule appointments, lunch meetings, or other activities that fit your personality and corporate culture to begin developing better relationships with these people. One-on-one or small group gatherings will work best for these meetings. Although you should not tell them about your top 20% list, it is a good idea to express how you see them as one of the most valuable players in the company; and that you are interested in listening to their insights about the company. Remember, your intent is to develop a strong, long-term, trusting relationship with each of these people. Do not grill them with questions or dominate the conversation. Be prepared to ask a few open-ended questions that have the potential to spark discussion, but be careful to let them talk, listen carefully, and take a few notes to help yourself remember important things. They may not open up in the first few meetings. However, almost everyone will talk openly when they know they can trust you. Also, show an interest in their life outside of work in a respectful way. Most people enjoy talking about themselves when someone is willing to sincerely listen.
• Prepare to Reward Your Star Players - Evaluate the current salary, wage, and bonus structure of your star players. Be sure you understand each star player's total compensation package, and how it compares to the compensation of your weaker performers. It is important to make sure that you compensate your star players well. (Note: In future steps of the Small Business Overhaul series, we will address motivational techniques and bonuses. If you need to make compensation adjustments, leave room open for performance-based bonus structures.)

Updating the Star Players List
In managing your teams, it is vital for you to update your star players list periodically. The frequency of the updates will depend on your company. In many companies, updating the list once or twice a year works well.

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