women in business

If you own a business with staff or a team, one of your focus areas as an owner and leader should be to become a Strength Finder.

women in business

Here’s what I mean.

I had a young lady who worked with me when I owned a brick-and-mortar service-based business.

She was a Customer Care Coordinator.

Responsible for scheduling guests for specific services offered in our company and answering product knowledge and wellness questions within her capacity. She onboarded people and new clients on their visit and suggested additional products and services based on customer needs and technician suggestions.

There were other responsibilities, but in a nutshell, she interacted a lot with customers.

Her role involved a level of hospitality which I learned was not an area she focused on.

What I mean is, I could give her a list of things to do and she would do the list with ease.

She would get it all done and not lift her head until finished.

Almost not even to acknowledge guests, LOL.

I secretly and lovingly considered her: 

“The Taskmaster”.

 She was the best at going down a list and getting it all done.

At first glance, she was not a fit for the position as so much of it was hospitality.

When it came to greeting the guests,  adding extra friendliness, and making extra conversation, that was not her strength.

She wasn’t unkind to anyone. The extra touches that people who are extremely natural for hospitality just wasn’t her thing.

Now I could have looked for reasons why she would not work out during her 90-day probationary period. Every staff member was on a 90-day probationary period at the beginning of their hiring period when they first started working at our company.

But, instead, I found her strengths.

I scheduled her on the days we were less busy and focused on giving her more task-based administrative duties.

She excelled.

Things got done-done. (SMILE)

It was a complete win-win for everyone.

When owners who have a staff or a team they are challenged with hire me to help them in their business, I often find it is a leadership issue first.

It is not always the easiest thing to hear, but definitely, a lesson I had to personally learn first before I could share it. My first year in the decade I owned a brick-and-mortar business, hiring was not the easiest part. After all the reasons I gave myself that “people just didn’t want to work or the staff were not good workers”, I had to go back to the drawing board after realizing I was responsible for hiring all of them.

I had to learn to hire differently.

I had to learn that everything fell from the TOP.

After re-evaluating, I hired my best staff who were with me for many of the years of being opened. We had our best profit-producing and strategic growth years ever. I really was blessed with an amazing staff at that point.

So I don’t say this in any way but from experience.

Number one thing, as a Leader is learning to hire differently.

Number two, having the level of discernment (or developing the skill) needed to recognize people’s gifts and strengths and how to move them throughout your company is major. Of course, there’s more, but these two are foundational along with hiring for purpose and not out of desperation.

Your role as the owner and your leadership development is huge for the growth of your business.

We can’t go around saying, “No one is suitable for the job or no one wants to work anymore.”

Often it is very much our leadership that has not developed in a specific area to be able to lead our companies where we desire to go.

That’s just a little Business Power Nugget for today.

Become a Strength Finder!

Tanya Wilson

Master Life and Business Coach

~The Growth Strategist

www.renewfullcircle.com

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