Attracting the best people into your organization is not the job of a “help wanted” ad. I think, if I am understanding the problem correctly, that we want the best people because the best help us better execute on our mission. We become more–our organizations become more– when we work with the best. In addition to bettering the upside, hiring the best also helps us limit the downside. How much do people that are mismatched with their positions steal (emotionally) from the team? We can’t find the best with a Craigslist post. Rather, attracting the best becomes a long-game problem. The real question is how can we create an organization that the best cannot ignore? How can we create and communicate work that the best find themselves gravitationally attracted to? It’s a mindset shift. Instead of finding people who need a job, we attract people who want to be a part of our very special thing.
With your teams, don’t get out of the way, do this instead
"Get out of the way!" I often hear some version of this sentiment when talking about building a culture to incentivize high performance teams. "You have to find the right people, equip them, and then get out of the way." People who talk about getting out of the way...