You’re running a successful business, and you’ve reached the stage when just keeping up with the status quo is taking more time than you have available.
If you don’t free-up some time to think and execute on the next growth strategy, your business will stall, and maybe even falter. You’re also now failing the ‘hit-by-a-bus’ tests – your business now has an unacceptable key-man risk, and it’s YOU.
The solution is to hire a replacement, but where do you start?
Step 1: Work out what you’re actually doing
You need to start by clearly defining what you do for your business. What are the key tasks you are doing and the key decisions you are making, on a daily, weekly, monthly and annual basis? You need to track your days and make a list. This list then forms a template for what you need to replace, or supplement.
Step 2: Advance the careers of your existing team members
The next step is taking a deep and objective look at your existing team members. What tasks and decisions-making can you pass to them immediately, and what tasks might they be able to grow into in the short to medium-term future? This is a critical step, because if you go over their heads, and just appoint a senior person from outside the business without first considering your existing team, your best team members are likely to leave – hollowing-out your organisation.
This step also gets you some immediate relief, because there will be things you can pass to existing team members immediately that you have been holding on to out of habit.
Step 3: Summarise what can’t already be delegated
Once you have allocated what you can (now and into the future) among your existing team, you will be left with a list of tasks and decisions that will need to be performed by your new recruit. This is a great foundation to write up the Position Description and the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for the role, and start the hunt.
Step 4: Craft your inspiring story
In addition to the bland Position Description, you must also consider the broader ‘Mission, Vision and Values’ of your business, and build a Team Journey Narrative about the future of your organisation and the role this person will play in that future. The Team Journey Narrative needs to capture peoples’ imagination and get potential recruits excited and emotionally engaged in the opportunity. This is a key appointment, and you need to attract the best possible candidates who can add tremendous value to your business.
Step 5: Put the word out among your network
At this stage, engaging a recruitment organisation to find candidates is worth considering, but only after you have exhausted your own professional and personal networks. You can access your own networks by preparing a two page ‘flyer’ about the opportunity, that starts with the Team Journey Narrative, and then details the specific tasks and decision-making that the person will need to perform in the Position Description. Not only will this find you the best possible candidates, it will also indirectly ‘market’ your business and its mission and vision to your professional network. This can create tangible and lasting value of its own, getting your network to ‘buy-in’ and feel part of your journey, from the inside out.
How we can help
No one builds a great team by accident. You need to carefully plan, and carefully execute. Part of this is getting the legal framework right. This includes:
- A comprehensive Employment Contract, with appropriate IP and restraint clauses;
- An accurate and detailed Position Description against which the candidate can be properly appraised;
- Objective Key Performance Indicators, against which the candidate’s performance can be monitored; and
- Policies and Procedures to govern your workplace and promote and preserve your culture.
Let us help you build your high-performance workplace and culture.
Finding your own replacement is not an easy task for many practical and personal reasons. It is something that is likely to take months, rather than weeks. But if your business is going to go to the next level, then you need to start planning now. For assistance in making this all happen, call us today on 1300 654 590 or email us to speak with one of our experienced employment lawyers.
The information contained in this post is current at the date of editing – 2 April 2025.
