The Bus

There are going to be times when we can’t wait for somebody. Now, you’re either on the bus of off the bus. – Ken Kesey “The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test” by Tom Wolfe.

A great team is essential for a business to succeed. There is difficulty obtaining a perfect dream team, but the hardest aspect is when to implement the team. Do you have a plan in place before you build a team? Do you start with a few, try to make it and eventually expand? Do you want a team or simply “helpers?”

I have spoken frequently in the past through Jameson Management, Inc. about teams: building a great team, teamwork, and keeping a team happy. Jim Collins’ “Good to Great” emphasizes that you have to have a great team first, then begin to plan, practice teamwork and build a company toward greatness. No matter how many people are employed by a company or how elaborate the plan is, if the right people aren’t on the bus with you, your business will plateau at the good level and won’t achieve more.

Collins mentions that good-to-great leaders understand “three simple truths” when it comes to employees –

• Who rather than what
• The right people on the bus remove the problem of motivating and managing people.
• Right Direction + Wrong People = Irrelevant. You still won’t have a great company.

If you have the correct management team in place before you start a project, they will most likely be there after the project to help keep the company going strong for many more years. They will be so vested into the growth of the company that they will want to see it through to completion rather than jump the bus to begin new with another company.

Wednesday’s quote of the day said, “Ultimately, a great team is a group of leaders tied together by a common sense of purpose.” Such great timing to go with this week’s “Be More” blog! You can have a great group of leaders, but if you do not have that common sense of purpose to push your company forward, you do not have the great team that you need to go from good to great.

“Whether someone is the ‘right person’ has more to do with the character traits and innate capabilities than with specific knowledge, background, or skills.”

Take a moment to think about aspects of your life. Are you surrounded by people who are on the same bus as you, who encourage you, challenge you, and make you think?

“If we spend the vast majority of our time with people we love and respect – people we really enjoy being on the bus with and who will never disappoint us – then we will almost certainly have a great life, no matter where the bus goes.” – Jim Collins