Hire Up

It takes real courage to hire the person who knows more than you about your area of expertise — for two reasons:

1) Hiring someone who knows more can feel threatening
2) The fact that you're responsible for hiring someone probably means you're no longer expected to be the expert in the area for which YOU were initially hired. Now you need to be the expert at building a team.


What if your colleagues figure out that the person you hired knows more than you and decide you're redundant? Worse still, what if your bosses notice the same thing?

The courageous team leader recognizes that in order to build the very best crew, you need the very best people. Hiring the duds, people with limited knowledge and experience, happy to toe the line and duck questioning the status quo, only serves to make you feel comfortable and still in control. Hire the person who's going to make you unsettled and vulnerable, the one who blows out the work you've started and raises it to a whole new level. That is ultimately what will make your team better and consequently, make you better.

How will you continue to learn and grow professionally if there isn't someone who will constructively challenge what you've established? Someone who brings new knowledge, perspective and experience to the organization? It can be difficult to watch someone take over what you've been working on and make it even better. After all, how can it really get any better than when you did it?

Hiring the smarter candidate, the more knowledgable and experienced person, injects life into your team. And you'll benefit as exceptional work gets done and people recognize not only the new star employee, but your savvy and selflessness for bringing them on board and creating a team environment where they can thrive.

Hang on — did you get that last part about creating a team environment? That very well could be the most nerve wracking part of making a new hire. Now you have to be the smartest person in the room on how to build a great team. You just became the top dog of cultivating talent and creating a fun and inspired environment that produces exceptional work.

While the new hire takes the lead on areas that used to be your responsibility, you'll be planning strategy, providing proper support and resources, creating the freedom for risks to be taken, getting voices heard and opinions expressed.

Focus on this and quickly watch how your team members begin to view you as an advocate for their ideas and work. They'll want to work for you and, if they're indeed the authentic individual you saw in the interview, tell everyone that their success is due to your efforts.

Be the architect of a team no one can beat. Let go of your old territories and successes and embrace this new challenge. And watch the accolades from team members, bosses and colleagues roll in — possibly even more than they ever did for the work you were initially hired to do.

Do Your Own Work First

Pay yourself first. It's a key lesson in the finance book, Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki —an excellent read, BTW, if you're interested in improving your personal finance acumen. Pay yourself first means simply that — when the money comes in, first pay yourself. Not your bills, not your rent, not your school loan. Put the money into your own investments — the RSPs, the ETF's, the savings account for you or your kid's education. Whatever your investments are, be disciplined and pay into those first. Then pay your bills, mortgage and taxes with what remains.

It may feel a bit uncomfortable, knowing you might be late paying those you owe. Being disciplined means ignoring the unease, forgoing that new Brony swag you've been eyeing and having the courage to pay yourself first and settle other debts later. I'm trying to retrain my "pay right away" instincts and I can tell you, it's not easy. My urge to pay a bill as soon as it comes in and get rid of my debt worries can be overwhelming. I don't like knowing I owe. I've bought into the belief that responsible citizens pay their bills right away. What I'm realizing now is responsible people DO pay their bills, but not always right away. Successful people pay themselves first. The cable company can wait a week, if that's what it takes. They have plenty of money. Pay yourself first.

At the core of this financial concept lies a fundamental truth — success at any venture means first taking care of yourself. It may sound selfish and not at all the behaviour of a mature and accountable colleague, but in my experience, those who produce great work week after week ARE SELFISH.  Selectively selfish. They know when to look after themselves and carve out time each day to do so. And once they've moved their personal goals forward, they're free to give fully of themselves and help others, secure in knowing what they want to achieve is done.

Do your own work first.

Too often, I've started my morning allowing my valuable time to be hijacked by an "urgent" Email or the fear of a missed deadline. I've let myself believe, like paying my bills on time, that a "good" team player will sacrifice their time in order to help others achieve their goals. That's what a stand up team member does. But, the experienced team leader understands they can only be of real help if they first look after themselves. Listen to your stewardess at the start of your next flight.  "In the event of a sudden loss of cabin pressure, secure your oxygen mask first before helping children and those around you."  The message is clear — You're no good to anyone if you're turning blue at 25,000 feet.

If you're like me, you create a small list of things you want to accomplish each day in order to push things forward. If I allow myself to be overrun by Email requests, early design meetings or a compelling debate over the body count on last night's episode of Game Of Thrones, guess what? What I want to accomplish gets pushed to later in the day, when the emotional clutter is piling up and I'm far less inclined to make things happen.

Do not make checking your phone messages and updating your Facebook status the first order of business. Take the first morning time slot, close your door and do what you need to do to keep your important projects moving forward. Consider it an investment in yourself. Fight the feeling that you're being selfish. If you NEVER give to your team and are never available for them, then, yes, you're being selfish and it's time for a reality check. But, taking the first hour of the day to get what you need done, with the intention of opening your door and being available afterwards, is not selfish. It's disciplined. It's seeing the big picture and knowing that you will be a far more helpful/productive/creative team member if you know your shit is done.

There will be days when it's not always possible — a fire will be raging the moment you step into work and you'll be manning the hose all day long. Unavoidable. Maybe you'll feel guilty, keeping your door closed when others are clamouring for help. Get used to it. Being selectively selfish is key to your success. Your organization will love you for it when they see: a) how much quality work you ship and b) how you still manage to be a great team member, able to dive in and help out when it's crunch time.