8. 4 Easy Ways to Grow a Profitable Team (and have fun doing it!)
You’ve poured your blood, sweat, and tears into building your business from the ground up. Now, it’s time to hire some help, but you’re a little nervous about the financial side of things.
How can you make sure that hiring a team is going to add value to your business, rather than drain all of your time, money, and resources?
I’m so glad you asked! This is an incredibly important part of growing a successful team.
The reason so many teams create financial strain on businesses is because there was little to no thought put into the strategy of hiring and growing a profitable team.
In this episode of The Impact Ripple, we’re talking all about the financial aspect of growing your team, including what to do before, during, and after hiring to ensure profitability and long-term sustainable growth and impact.
This can’t-miss episode is sure to give you some simple, new strategies to implement as you build your team with intention and purpose – and ensure you have fun doing it!
In this episode, you’ll learn:
Why profitability is the critical, but often overlooked, part of growing a team
What happens when profitability isn’t part of your hiring strategy
4 easy ways to grow a profitable team (and have fun doing it!)
Mentioned in This Episode:
Transcription for Episode 8 - 4 Easy Ways to Grow a Profitable Team (and have fun doing it!)
Ashley Cox 0:04
Welcome to Episode Eight of the impact report podcast. The go to source for hiring and leadership made simple, doable and fun for visionary female business owners. I'm your host, Ashley Cox, author, certified HR expert and founder of sprout HR. And I believe that you don't have to change who you are to be a great leader, because you already are one. Join me as we kiss uncertainty and overwhelm goodbye and say hello to the tools and support you need to grow a profitable, sustainable, impactful team with more confidence and ease.
Ashley Cox 0:42
On today's episode, we're talking about how to grow a profitable team. Because let's face it, if your team isn't profitable, you won't be able to support it or the big dreams you have for making an impact in this world. I also want to emphasize the fun part today. Because while hiring can be stressful at times, I fully believe that it is the most exciting and rewarding part of growing a business. Profitability is a critical but often overlooked part of growing a team.
Ashley Cox 1:24
If you've been in business for any period of time, you've likely heard horror stories about hiring conundrums, teams that aren't performing out of control costs and a host of other issues that lead to major headaches and spending more money and time than you have. Well, I don't want that for you. That's why this episode is so near and dear to my heart.
Ashley Cox 1:41
While hiring a team is great for getting some help and some time back in your day and your life. Our teams must make money in order to create long term sustainable growth and impact. If they don't, it could lead to a struggling business laying off team members or worse. I've seen businesses shuttered their doors because their teams were ineffective and bleeding money. I don't share that to scare you, though, but to highlight the importance of Team profitability so that you can avoid the same fate. But you must be strategic when hiring and leading your team.
Ashley Cox 2:21
And that's why today I'm sharing four easy ways to make sure that your hiring efforts will produce profitable results. Because when your team helps you make more money, you can create more impact together in your business and in the world. The first and most important step to growing a profitable team is understanding your investment.
Ashley Cox 2:47
While yes, employee wages are technically an expense line on your profit and loss statement. It's beneficial to view hiring as more of an investment in the long term growth and success of your business. When we view hiring as an expense, we see it as something expendable. cutting expenses, especially employee wages is the first place businesses typically look to make a change because it's often the easiest place to start. However, companies who understand and appreciate the value that their teams bring to their business will do everything they can to protect their investment, and their people. Employees aren't programmable machines, they are individuals with unlimited potential. And we can only help them reach their full potential when we truly view them as the ultimate investment in our business. But that's only part of the equation.
Ashley Cox 3:49
When we make investments in our business, we should also be looking for a return on that investment or ROI. Meaning we put something in and we get something out. And this should be mutually beneficial. You know, when employees put their effort and time and energy and creativity into our businesses, they should be compensated well, they should be treated well. And when we spend money hiring employees, we should get something back for that. So while we're focusing on financial gains today, returns can also be measured by either saving or increasing our time, money and resources. So there are many ways for us to measure our return on investment.
Ashley Cox 4:35
Here are some examples of possible returns that you could experience and expect when hiring employees. more time to focus on higher level CEO tasks, which is a very common result that our clients here at Sprout HR tell us is I have more time to focus on the things that really matter which means less time for you spent In the day to day weeds of business, more time to build and nurture important business relationships, which means less time focused on administrative tasks or things that take you away from that important work. More time spent on revenue generating activities and less time spent on maintenance activities. Both are important, but the things that you should be spending your time on should be bringing more money into the business. more time with your family or hobbies that you love or enjoy, and less time sitting at your computer for hours on end. No more 14 Day workweeks my friend no more and more creativity and innovation in your business, and less time spending your wills trying to solve all the problems by yourself. Another common result that our clients are constantly talking about is just the brain space that they get back when they hire the right people for their team. So it's important to get really clear on the return that you wish to see from your investment, whether it's financial time or something else. And when you embrace hiring as an investment, you'll get a positive return much more quickly.
Ashley Cox 6:21
The next step in growing a profitable team is to hire the right people. I know this one may seem obvious, but I'm gonna say it anyway because people get it wrong all the time. What I mean is that there are many ways business owners hire the wrong people, such as when they're unclear about the role or what they actually need help with. They are plugging holes in their business today to deal with immediate problems instead of thinking strategically about their future needs. They try to find one person to meet all of their needs, AKA a unicorn, which unfortunately don't exist. And they hire someone because they like the person, not necessarily because of what that person brings to the team.
Ashley Cox 7:15
Desperation, exhaustion, and confusion all lead to making poor hiring decisions, which typically then leads to hiring an unprofitable and unsustainable team. Hiring the right people starts way before you think you're even ready to bring someone on board. It starts with getting clear on your bigger vision, your values, and your long term goals. It starts by understanding the investment that hiring is and what kind of return you need, in order to make it worthwhile for you all. Hiring the right people begins by slowing down, getting clear on your goals and needs, and taking the time to bring the right people into the right roles from the start. Because when you do that, they will be able to bring their magic to your business. And this, my friend is the fun part, a team where you feel like you can accomplish anything together. One that is highly trustworthy, innovative, creative, and capable beyond your wildest imaginations, a team that works so well that it can't help but to be profitable.
Ashley Cox 8:38
Now, once you hire these amazing team members, it's time for our third step and growing a profitable team. And that is setting clear expectations. You can hire the most talented people in the world. But if you don't set clear expectations, even they will fall short. This is really where your leadership skills play a key role in your team's profitability. Business owners usually have a lot of thoughts and feelings around setting clear expectations. So here are just a handful of the ones that I've heard recently. I don't want to micromanage or be overbearing, I hired them to do a job so they should know what they're to do. I don't want them to think I'm telling them how to do their job. I can't spend all day handholding. I don't want to be nitpicky. I don't want to be mean, and so forth and so on. Have you ever had any of these thoughts or feelings? Because if you have you're not alone, these are perfectly normal thoughts that come up when leading others or even just thinking about leading others. And while you may not experience all of them, I bet there's at least one that you chuckled about under Your breath or thought, oh, boy,
Ashley Cox 10:02
I've thought that before, thought these things too, I'm not immune to any of this, I just want you to know, just because I've been doing this for over 16 years now does not mean that I have got this all nailed down, we all have moments where we have these thoughts, these intrusive, things that kind of pop up and make us feel like, maybe I'm not cut out for this. But it's being aware of them. And growing that self awareness that we've talked about before, that makes the difference. So setting clear expectations is necessary and important. And it's not mean at all. As Brene Brown put it clear, is kind. And when we set clear expectations, we're helping our team understand the rules of the game, which is a nice thing to do, right?
Ashley Cox 10:59
Because every game has rules, and no one is upset that there are rules, they may not always like them, they may not always agree with them. But we need rules to tell us how to play the game, and how to know if we're winning or losing. And the same is true in business. If our team members don't know the rules, they won't know how to play the game. And they'll never know if they're winning, or losing individually or collectively, which can lead to frustration for both them and you. You can set clear expectations around anything. From work hours to deadlines, time off requests to communication, preferences, and more.
Ashley Cox 11:46
Just make sure that you're being clear and fair and consistent in your expectations, and that your expectations align with your desired return on investment and the goals that you have for your team. You don't want to create rules just for the sake of having rules. The rules need to make sense for the game. So help your team win by being super clear and aligned that will drive profitability when everyone on your team is playing the same game by the same rules. Getting clear on your expectations now will help you create a great hiring an onboarding experience for your new team members, helping them get up to speed and generating a great return on investment in no time. And if you'd like more tips for employee onboarding, be sure to check out our blog post at the link in our show notes. Because I could just go on and on about that one specific topic. But that blog post is really great and builds on this conversation around setting clear expectations and it has some additional advice and guidance in there for you.
Ashley Cox 12:55
Our final, easy way to grow a profitable team is to track your progress, so that you know when you're meeting or exceeding your expected return on investment. In a similar way that you want to make sure that a piece of software does the job that you purchased it to do. You also want to be certain that each of your team members are doing the jobs that they were hired to do to their best of their abilities, and that it's bringing the return on investment that you outlined initially. I often find that small business owners patch the needs of their growing business together with a hodgepodge of contractors and employees doing this, that and the other. But each and every individual you hire needs to serve a specific purpose in your business. Otherwise, there's a high probability that you'll make poor hiring and investment decisions. And we don't want that.
Ashley Cox 13:53
Although this step seems like it might take place after you hire a team member, you really have to start thinking about this beforehand, in order to help you make smarter hiring decisions, which also includes helping you write a killer job description that really reflects the role for which you're hiring and helps you attract the best right fit candidates.
Ashley Cox 14:18
What exactly should you be tracking though, to ensure a profitable team? Well, since every business is different, and what you want or need to be tracking can vary. Here are some questions that you can use to help you determine how you will track your progress. What is my big exciting vision for the future? Vision creates alignment so we want to get really clear on that. What kind of impact do I want for me and my team to have in the world? What goals do I want to achieve in my business? What kind of help well I need an order to reach those goals, how much can I invest in hiring help? What kind of return do I expect from hiring? And be sure to outline financial investments, time resources? What will be accomplished by hiring help? What expectations will I have for myself and my team members? What goals will I need to set for them to ensure that we are all aligned?
Ashley Cox 15:35
By reflecting on your expectations, desired return on investment and goals, you'll be much better prepared to hire and more confident that your growing team will be profitable, sustainable and impactful for the long run. So there you have it, are four easy ways to grow a profitable team, and have fun doing it.
Ashley Cox 16:04
As we wrap things up today, it's time for our final segment. Imagine the impact, where we get to envision what it could look like for you to take action today. This is the exciting part. Getting to dream about what's possible for you, your business and your team. What if having a team could be fun and easy. That can be your reality. When you take the time to hire strategically, and keep profitability in mind while you do. Imagine the impact that you and your aligned and profitable team could have on your community and the world.
Ashley Cox 16:53
If you found this episode helpful, we'd be so grateful if you could rate and review the show on your favorite podcast app. This really helps us reach more leaders just like you who could use a little more support with hiring and leading their dream team. Thanks so much for joining me today on the impact referral podcast. As always, it's an honor to be here with you and for you and your leadership journey.