Set clear standards
One of the most challenging aspects of taking a business
from one level to the next is being able to cut loose those who
don’t fit in anymore.
“It’s hard often to be the leader you need to be,” Carpenter
says. “You have to set expectations for the people in your
organization. You have to make sure
that everybody is meeting those. That
can be hard for people to go from a
small group where you’re all friends.”
You need to be clear about your vision
for the company and what your strategy
is to fulfill that vision in order to give
employees the best chance to succeed
and thrive in your organization.
“Figure out, ‘What do I need and does
my current organization match those
skill sets?’” Carpenter says. “Everybody
that matches those, if you have to let
anybody go, that’s part of it. If you have
to hire some people, that’s part of it. You
create a culture of high performance
where everybody understands what
everybody else’s job is so things don’t
get lost in the cracks.”
The idea is that you’re running a business and things need to get done. By
laying out the strategy for how you
want things done, you give your people
every opportunity to be a valuable
employee.
“There’s really clear communication
of who does what when and who has
the responsibility to get the job done
and who has the responsibility to
approve the final project and veto it,”
Carpenter says. “There is clarity of
expectation and clarity of process. To
achieve that, you need to figure out if
you are the person to oversee that kind
of communication.”
About three years ago, Carpenter realized he was not the person to make
those decisions.
“I did have a person on staff who was
capable of doing that,” Carpenter says. “I
eventually promoted her to be a vice
president, and she is in charge of doing
that.”
While Carpenter focuses on positioning the company in the marketplace and
interacting with customers, he does recognize the importance of giving employees a clear idea of where they stand in
his company.
“You have to get to a point where an
annual review is open on all accounts,
good jobs and bad jobs,” Carpenter says.
“It shouldn’t just be an annual review. It
should be at least two or three times a
year in between the big annual review so
people have regular feedback on how
they are doing according to expectations.”
