13. Growing Your Team with Intention
Growing your team is, without a doubt, one of the most rewarding experiences you can have in your business.
It can also be one of the most overwhelming, stressful, and expensive experiences…if you don’t get it right.
But how do you actually, you know, get it right?
It all starts with getting super intentional!
Something I tell our clients at SproutHR all the time is to, “Keep your eyes on your own paper!” when it comes to hiring.
While it’s tempting to look around at what others are doing – like whether they’re hiring contractors or employees, have a small team or a large one, etc. – I don’t recommend it.
That’s because what they’re doing suits their business plan and model.
And you need to do what suits your business plan and model, which may be something entirely different!
In this episode of The Impact Ripple, I talk about growing your business and team with intention and purpose, so you can hire right!
In this episode, you’ll learn:
Growing your team by design rather than default
Aligning your people plan with your business plan
Questions to help you hire with more intention
Mentioned in This Episode:
Transcription for Episode 13 - Growing Your Team With Intention
Ashley Cox 0:04
Welcome to Episode 13 of the impact ripple 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 0:44
Today's episode kicks off season two of the impact ripple and I'm so excited to be back with you. I can't wait to share all of our brand new episodes with you that are just chock full of helpful hiring and leadership insights, thought provoking questions and simple actionable advice that you can walk away from every episode with. I'm also thrilled to be introducing our very first guests this season. And we're gonna go deep with these guests talking about things like finances, mental health, legal need to nose and so much more for hiring and leading your best team.
Ashley Cox 1:26
So let's kick off today's episode and season two, with our topic around growing your business and your team with intention. As my director of ops Mara and I were putting together our plans for the podcast launch this past summer, and thinking about how we wanted to sustain it after the initial excitement of launching had died down, raise your hand if you know that feeling. We spent some time getting super intentional.
Ashley Cox 1:57
Now, this hasn't always been the case for how I've run my business or launched new programs and services, etc. In those early years of starting and running a business, I was spending a lot of time following what others were doing in their businesses, thinking that someone else had to have already figured it out. Right. And I love me a good shortcut, work smarter, not harder. But what I didn't realize then was that so many of the things that other people were doing, weren't aligned with who I am. How I thought about business and teams, and often didn't align with my personality, or behavioral traits, aka the way I work, which meant a whole lot of time spent trying things that didn't fit me or my business or the way I wanted to grow my business. And then wondering why things weren't taking off the way I thought they should be.
Ashley Cox 3:02
You see, sometimes being a rule follower, aka why I work in HR does have its downsides. I like to do things the right way. I like to limit my liability and maximize my chances of success. But I mean, who doesn't right? And while yes, I love a good shortcut. I only love them when they follow the rules. But what I didn't take into consideration was that I get the chance to make up the rules in my own business. Have you ever had that epiphany before? It's wild, isn't it? Yes, there are absolutely typical business practices, standards, rules of engagement, ethics, etc. that are generally accepted as good, better, best, right. But there are 1000 probably a million different ways to run a successful, profitable, sustainable business, which was ultimately my goal. There's just a better way for me, and a better way for you, which don't have to be the same. And as I've been thinking about this first episode back, and all of the excitement of starting a new year as we come into 2023, setting new goals, dreaming about the future. I wanted to be very intentional with the message that I shared to kick off season two. And that's why today's message is all about intention and purpose in growing your business and growing your team.
Ashley Cox 4:45
With the podcast. It was really important for us to be able to do it in a way that felt really good and simple and in a way that we knew we could sustain which is why we decided to break our episodes up into seasons and give ourselves a little bit of a break, instead of perpetually creating episode after episode after episode that just doesn't work for us and the way that we work and the goals that we have and the things that are important to us in our business journey. And so, the cool thing is about running a business is we get to make that choice. Just because someone else chooses to record and release an episode every single week with no weeks off or no breaks, doesn't mean that that's the way we have to do it. And just because we decide to take a month or two months off in between our seasons, doesn't mean that that's the way someone else has to do it. And there are just as many ways to grow a team, as there are ways to launch and host a podcast.
Ashley Cox 5:56
For instance, you can grow a team of contractors, or a team of employees, or maybe even a hybrid of both. You can grow a small but mighty team of just a few folks. Or you can grow your team to have 2550 100 or more employees. You can have a laid back casual company culture, or a high energy creative culture. You can have an in person team or a remote team, or again, a hybrid of both. There are a million ways that you can build your team, as well as the culture of your business. And no one way is the exact perfect only right way to do it. Sure. Talk about no pressure, right? We get to do it the way we want. But it does take intention. It takes being thoughtful, and purposeful and understanding what it is you want to create.
Ashley Cox 7:04
As we discussed back in episode five, you can either create a culture by default, or a culture by design. The same is true for growing your team. You can create or build or grow your team by default, or by design. Growing teams by design is what we help our clients do here at Sprout HR, we want to make sure that our clients are bringing in the right people with the right skill sets into the right jobs for their business. at the right times. That I mentioned, I like to do things the right way. So if that sounds good, and you're like me, then make sure to grab our hiring roadmap at Sprout hr.co forward slash roadmap or at the link in our show notes to make sure that you don't miss an important step in that process of bringing the right people with the right skills into the right jobs at the right time in your business. Again, you can grab that in our show notes, or at Sprout hr.co forward slash roadmap. These are the exact steps that we walk our clients through when we work with them one on one.
Ashley Cox 8:24
So much of the hiring process, though, that I observe in the small business world revolves around what others are doing. And I can't tell you how many times someone has come to me thinking they have to hire help, or they have to have a large team. And I've talked them out of it. Not everyone needs to hire. Not everyone should hire. And not everyone has to have a team of 20 people. I remember a client from a few years ago who said on her discovery call questionnaire. I wish I could fire everyone and start over. And while that may seem like an anomaly, she's not the only one who's ever said that to me.
Ashley Cox 9:14
Growing Your team is without a doubt one of the most rewarding experiences I promise that you can have in your business. It can also be one of the most overwhelming, stressful and expensive experiences. If you don't get it right for your business type for your business structure for your desires, your needs your thresh hold, which is the term I like to use to refer to how many people you want to lead in your business. And like we talked back in episode 10, aligning your people plan with your business plan.
Ashley Cox 9:58
It also depends on what Your goals are for your business, what that big long term vision is the impact that you want to create in the world. And not everyone wants to lead a large team by it, some people do. And I think there's room for all of us. Personally, I have led teams of over 350 employees. It was fun, and it was terrifying. And I learned so much about myself, about leading others. And I use all of that in my work today. But I don't have a desire to grow a team that large.
Ashley Cox 10:37
My ideal team size is five to eight employees. And that may change one day. And that's okay, too. I have some clients who only have one or two employees, and they are perfectly happy, while other clients have 25 or 30. I've also helped clients grow their teams to over 50 employees. But since I specialize in working with small businesses who have less than 50 employees, I replace myself by helping them hire an in house HR person, because once you hit 50 employees, there are some bigger federal laws that start to kick in. And you really need a more dedicated in house type of HR support.
Ashley Cox 11:25
So knowing your preferences, your business and personal needs, and your desires of how many people you want to lead before hiring is absolutely vital. Otherwise, you could find yourself trying to backpedal out of a too large for you team, like the client I mentioned earlier. And this is why whenever I work with new clients, especially those who are hiring, for the first time or thinking about expanding their team, I always like to start with a visioning exercise.
Ashley Cox 12:03
This exercise helps to ground us, it helps to get really intentional. Think about the future of our business, the big vision that we have in mind the impact we want to create, which allows us to take a look at what kind of support you're going to need in order to reach those big goals, then we can have a really meaningful conversation around the type of team that you'll need in order to support that bigger vision. And sometimes the vision shifts or changes, because the reality of what you need team wise, in order to accomplish it may feel too big right now, too scary right now. And it doesn't mean that you have to go out and hire 50 People today to create this long term vision. But if you never want to lead a team of 50 people, then we may just need to adjust and tweak some things, we may need to think about that big vision and a different way.
Ashley Cox 13:10
And this is why it's so incredibly important to align your people plan with your business plan. Again, we had a really great episode on that in season one, episode 10. And I think that one is definitely worth going back and listening to if you missed it. So to help you with this, I thought it would be fun for us to go through the exact exercise I use with our clients, as you're thinking about the year ahead, and you're beginning to put your New Year's plans and goals and dreams into action. And if you're finding this episode at a another time during the year, because right now it's February 2023. When this has been released, you can still do this exercise, there is no wrong time to get intentional and think about your ideal team.
Ashley Cox 14:05
So let's start first by getting into the right frame of mind. I want you to close your eyes, if possible, safety first. So if you're driving, please don't close your eyes. Take a deep cleansing breath. And imagine that it's one year in the future. I'm going to ask you a series of questions and I want you to think about with intention, the answers to each of these questions. And if you need to go back and listen to this later when you're in a better place or you're able to jot some notes down or maybe you just need some time to kind of percolate on the answers. You can come back to this episode whenever you need it.
Ashley Cox 14:56
Okay, so here are our questions. How does your business look and feel now? versus one year ago? What work are you doing? And loving? What does your work schedule look like? Think about how many days you work each week, how many hours per day you're working? What time you start and finish each work day. And remember, we're thinking into the future. So this is what your future self is doing one year from today. What are you doing in life now that you weren't able to do a year ago? consider things like spending more time with your family, going on family vacations or adventures. Perhaps you want more time to engage in the hobbies that you love and have maybe set aside. Or you might just want, need, and deserve some rest? How do you feel now versus a year ago? And when I say feel this could be emotions? This could be mentally, this could be physically, spiritually, however you want to interpret this question, how do you feel now? versus one year ago? And finally, how have you grown into more of who you want to be? Now some of the answers may come pretty quickly to you, while others may take a little bit longer.
Ashley Cox 16:49
So again, take as much time as you need, come back to these questions when you need them. Because this is where intentional hiring begins. And when you want to hire the right people into the right roles at the right time for your business, this is non negotiable, this is absolutely where you have to start. So lean into trusting yourself to know the right answers for you and your business. And be open to answers that may surprise you. And if you want to share your answers with me, pop on over to LinkedIn and send me a DM. I'd love to chat with you to hear what your answers to these questions are to encourage you to keep going in the direction that is right for you. So you can find my LinkedIn profile linked up in our show notes. So be sure to pop over there and say, Hey, and let me know what came up for you when you answered these questions.
Ashley Cox 17:58
As we wrap things up today, it's time for our first final segment of season two, my favorite segment, which is called Imagine the impact where we get to envision what it would look like for you to take action today. One of my favorite mantras that I use all of the time for myself, my team with my clients is slow down to speed up. And it's an abbreviated take on Mike Vance's original quote where he said slowing down is sometimes the best way to speed up. To me the magic is in the slow moments. The times when we pause to breathe, reflect, consider and make decisions from a place of true intentionality, rather than a place of comparison or reaction. And if you're like many of our clients, who feel like there is just never enough time in the day. Remember this quote from LAO to nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished. Imagine the impact that taking the proper time to think about how you want to intentionally grow your team could have on your business, your community and the world.
Ashley Cox 19:29
If you love today's episode, I'd be so grateful if you could take a moment to rate and review the show in your favorite podcast app. This helps us reach more leaders just like you who need to hear that it's okay to not want the same things as everyone else when it comes to growing their team.
Ashley Cox 19:50
Coming this season, you'll find even more insightful, thought provoking and actionable conversations as well as our first guest who will be joining me On the show soon, so I can't wait to share all that we have in store with you in the coming weeks and months. Thanks so much for joining me today on the impact referral podcast. And as always, it's an honor to be here with and for you on your leadership journey.