Talent best when it’s homegrown

This is the chatter in a successful business:
“Let’s do this.”
“Is this wrong?”
“What do you think?”
“Try this, it may work better.”
“Let’s get it right.”

NOTICE THE tools used.
Questions. Answers. Advice. A sharing of experiences. A common goal.
That’s how good employees and good companies are grown.
In small towns like Iola, business owners learn the importance of “growing” employees, because they’re not exactly ripe for the picking. Most college grads have their sights set on metropolitan areas that offer a wide selection of job opportunities, entertainment and a bigger social scene.
From experience, small town employers know that to keep new recruits, they need to demonstrate how they can grow with the business, not only in pay but in experience.
The best way to show a bright future for an employee is for a company’s leaders to be passionate about what they do. Excitement is contagious. Same for high expectations. A boss who gives his best, shows a standard of leadership that ignites the workplace.
Successful leadership includes hiring and firing to get the right balance. And yes, it’s much easier to hire than to fire.
But if the goal is a superior product, then leaders recognize that can happen only when the best talent is secured and when that talent can operate in an environment conducive to hard work and teamwork. So weed out the bitter, the lazy, the incompetent — with a clean conscience. Experience shows it’s a blessing for both sides of the table.
Being able to work as a team should not be underestimated. No man is an island — especially when part of a company.
Small businesses are much like families — for good and bad. What makes you go to the reunion, the funeral, the recital, the wedding, the birthday party — it’s what families do.
In a family-style business, employees have a sense of responsibility to not only the product, but also the overall success of the business. For many a local entity, it’s a sink-or-swim affair.
This, of course, is what makes work rewarding. You are valued, you are needed, you are challenged.

ALL OF THE ABOVE applies to effective churches, classrooms, team sports, group activities, organizations and communities. We all can make a difference to their success.
And that’s a good thing.
— Susan Lynn