Determine the state of your business. Plan where you want to be in 1, 5 and 10 years. Decide what you need to do to get there. Does this involve expanding into a new market?[3] X Research source
Spend some time reflecting on your own weaknesses to determine what sort of help you’ll need running your company. If you lack sales skills, you will need a strong Sales Director on your team. If accounting is not a strength, you will need a Chief Financial Officer or Finance Director. Be willing to include managers who are better than you at certain things. You will need to put your ego aside for the sake of your business. [4] X Research source
Hire an outside consulting firm to assess your business and management team. Survey your clients on your business. Talk to colleagues and friends in your industry. [5] X Research source
Create a way for anonymous feedback and constructive criticism within your organization. Put together a board of advisors made up of senior managers and senior employees. Even if your business is small, having a group of advisors you can regularly rely on will help you streamline your management. Regularly visit and talk to and listen to your employees – at all levels. [6] X Research source
If a current manager does not measure up, consider letting them go, demoting them, or reassigning them to a position that better suits their skill set. If current managers seem gifted and skilled but are in the wrong position, reassign them to positions that will allow them to use their talents the best. Communicate with your managers throughout the assessment process, try to be transparent, and treat your managers with respect.
Communicate to your employees that you are restructuring your management team, and you are looking to promote or create new positions. Approach current managers and see if they have any ideas about employees that are management material. Talk to the employees who you think might make good members of your management team. Discuss their level of interest and your overall vision for the organization. [7] X Research source
List job openings with major online job sites. Advertise positions in trade journals and newspapers. Communicate your need for new managers at conferences and to other business leaders you know personally. Send someone to job fairs at college campuses, in your community, or at national conventions and conferences. [8] X Research source
Attend national conferences and conventions related to your industry and meet new people you might recruit. Browse LinkedIn or other online professional networking sites for people you may know, or people who might be in your broader network. Talk to other senior executives or business owners about your need. They might know someone who fits the position you’ll be hiring for. [9] X Research source
You’ll have to pay a fee to the search firm. The search firm will tailor their search to your exact needs. Search firms often draw on a much larger geographical area and on a larger pool of possible candidates than you might be able to reach on your own. [10] X Research source
Explain your broader expectations for each manager as a member of your team. Make sure managers have authority to act independently when they need. Explicitly outline the nature of a manager’s job and responsibilities. [11] X Research source
Explicitly outline your company’s core values to your employees. If you’re in service, you should include something like customer satisfaction. If you’re in manufacturing, you should name quality. Lead by example. Leadership sets the tone of a company’s culture. Whatever your core values are, make sure you live them and demonstrate them every day to your employees and to your customers. Nurture your employees and treat them as valuable members of a team. Employees won’t follow your lead if they don’t respect you, and if they feel you don’t respect them. [12] X Research source
Set up group meetings. Every month or two, you should have a meeting of your entire management team to discuss challenges and issues confronting your company. Set up individualized meetings. Once you have your management team assembled, meet with your managers at least every couple of months to talk to them about the challenges and opportunities they face every day. Set up socials every couple of months. Company sponsored picnics or baseball games are a great way for everyone to get to know each other and to open the lines of communication during off-hours. This will also help reinforce your company culture. [13] X Research source
Treat your managers the way you would want to be treated. Offer competitive pay and bonuses for excellent work. Listen to your managers when they have concerns or suggestions. Explain your expectations. The members of your newly formed management team will need to understand clearly their roles and responsibilities.
Trust your management team to make good decisions and oversee their respective departments properly. Never micromanage. If you had enough faith to hire someone, let them do their job without interference. Authority also includes proper resources (money and people). More authority given to managers down the chain of leadership will enable managers to deal with problems quicker and take advantage of opportunities faster. [15] X Research source
Specific. You need to describe the specific goals everyone should work to achieve. Measurable. Your manager’s work towards their individual and shared goals should be measurable, and they should understand those metrics. Achievable. Your goals need to be achievable. They should not be goals that can only be achieved under the best circumstances or be merely aspirational. Relevant. Your goals need to be related to the business strategy being implemented. Focus is key to achieving long term objectives. Time-based. Your goals need to be set with a time frame in mind. For instance, if you hope to increase sales by 10%, your goal should be to increase sales by 10% in a year, not during some vague period of time. [16] X Research source
Review reports of your managers on the goals you’ve laid out to them. Meet with your team members constantly, not only if something is going wrong. If a team member has demonstrated consistent success, reward and praise them. Criticize them in private, not in front of the rest of the team. If a team member has failed at their job several times, consider replacing them or reassigning them. [17] X Research source
