Right People in the Right seats

The idea of having the right people on the bus for your business is more important today than ever.

What you'll learn in this section

Key points, lessons, and tools.

Strengthening the People Component consists of two things - having the Right People and putting them in the Right Seats

Right People: They are a fit for your culture and exhibit your desired core values. In the Right Seats: They have the skills, innate talents, desire, and capability to do the job well.

The Two Issues: The two primary people issues that you'll encounter on your journey.

Tools & Disciplines

Accountability Chart™: defines the right and best structure, roles, and accountabilities (seats) for your organization as you go forward and emerge stronger.
Core Values: Hire, manage and fire people to your Core Values and you'll have the Right People.
People Analyzer™: A simple, powerful tool that puts "Right People, Right Seats" into black and white

The Gist ofRight People, Right Seats

Right people means that they fit your organization like a glove, share your values, and behave exactly the way you want. Right seats mean that they have the skills, talents, desire and ability to do the job and do it well.

Right People

Fit your core values.

Right Seats

Define the STRUCTURE first - the seats. It's like designing the right bus to get you to your destination BEFORE you fill that bus with people.

The Right People

The Right people for your company fit your true core values. What are true core values?

Your core values define who you are as a leadership team and company. It forms the essence of what you would describe as your ideal employee. Core values are NOT:

NOT Personal. Focus on values that will drive your company forward and which will enable you to hire the right people that fit your organization.
NOT Aspirational. These express who you WANT to be, but don't represent who you ARE.
NOT Permission to Play. These are values that you expect from everyone and should be just a part of working, such as "Integrity" or "Honesty."
NOT Accidental. They reflect the common interests or personality that arise simultaneously without being cultivated by leadership, such as "hip and trendy."

Watch: A Company core values speech

Watch: the EOS® Core values speech

watch Gino talk about accountability

Start with your leadership team

This is the 3-6 most important functions of the business. We’re looking for the essential handful of things that you need to do really well every week to achieve your Vision.

For example, you have to sell and market well or no orders come through the door. You have to Operate well - deliver value to your customers through a product, service or both - or you’ll lose customers as fast as you get them. You have to manage money (and other assets) well or you’ll not have the cash and infrastructure to grow your business (or even STAY in business).

Questions to settle the matter include the alarmingly creative “is this truly a major function?” “Do you need the leader of this function in the room when the leadership team is making critical decisions?”

You need to force a choice - for today. Ask, “what feels like the simplest and best structure, for the next 3-9 months?”

In The Right Seats

You should know WHAT you need before you think about WHO you need.

We start by defining the right and best STRUCTURE for your organization TODAY and into the near future. The seats you had pre-COVID may not be what you need now, and the FUNCTIONS performed by the people in those seats may have changed as well.

Define the main functions of your leadership team. This is the small group you'll surround yourself with to make the important decisions for the company.
For what will they be accountable? List the 3-5 MAJOR roles for each function.
Less is more. Make the tough choice about who you absolutely need in the room every week.
Right people for the seats. Given what you need TODAY, are the people who've been in those seats the best fit

Use the People Analyzer™

The People Analyzer™ is a simple, but powerful tool.

It puts right people, right seat decisions into context and simple black and white terms:

List Core Values. Rate people with a +, +/- or - in terms of how well they exhibit the values and behaviors you need.
GWC. How well does the person Get, Want, and have the Capacity to do the job and do it well?

Where GWC comes from

G stands for "Get it" - they have the innate understanding of and appreciation for the job. W is "Want it" - they truly want the job. And C is "Capacity" - the skills, talents, and ability to do the job well.

You can ONLY know if someone GWC's a job if you've done your homework with building a solid Accountability Chart™. Clear roles and accountabilities are derived from the Accountability Chart.

Use the People Analyzer

Try it with your Leadership Team first. Build out your Accountability Chart, clarify your core values, and see - do you have the Right People in the Right Seats on your Leadership Team?

Then choose your worst employee and your best employee. Use the People Analyzer to evaluate them.

The Two Issues

You will run into two types of people issues:

Wrong Person. This is someone who just doesn't fit your culture. Unfortunately, they're often a top performer, but during this crisis they are doing more damage than good.
Wrong Seat. This is the person you just love, but isn't a good fit for the seat they've been in. Maybe COVID has shifted your needs, or maybe they were never a good fit. You just might have to make the tough decision to let them go if you don't have the right seat.

Next Lesson: Building Traction

You want those right people to do the right things at the right time, right? In this next lesson, you'll learn the key tools that will enable you to execute on your plan with discipline and accountability

Start building traction