This week on The Flip King CEO, Joe Evangelisti and his Chief Operating Officer Brian Rogan sit down to answer listener questions. The first question is perfect for Brian: How do you hire a COO? He recommended that if you don’t have someone in mind, someone in your circle, hire an assistant. Put them on for 30 hours a week and let them learn what you do, and begin handing off tasks to them. If you see that they’re good at the job, and they start taking on tasks preemptively, without needing to be asked, then you know you’ve found someone who’s COO material. A lot of COOs come from within, you need that cultural fit.
Hiring: find someone in your sphere
There are a million places now to post your job ad, but the best place to find a hire is from within your own sphere, says Brian. Don’t be afraid to tell people you’re hiring. You need to find someone who will understand the values of our company, and live and reflect those values, and the best chance of finding that person will be someone who is already familiar with your work. Find that person through a friend or a friend of a friend. You can get a deluge of resumes from Craigslist or any other site, but you’ll find the right person if you can get a referral of some sort.
How to change the culture of a company
Someone asked Brian on Facebook recently: How do you change the culture of a company? When it goes bad in a company, everyone knows it. Everyone sees the problem, the core values are withering away, and the company is unrecognizable next to what you initially set out as your vision. So you need to define those values, maybe redefine those values if it’s been a while. And then you need to go through every one of your employees and see who fits and who doesn’t fit with those values. That doesn’t mean a firing spree, sometimes someone is just not in the right role. We rate, hire and fire on our core values each quarter. Joe breaks down the core values of his company in this week’s episode of The Flip King CEO (which he’s rated on quarterly, as well).
Have an authentic emotional connection to what you do
You need to genuinely connect emotionally with what you do. You identify the core values of your company based on what you’re most passionate about, you define them for everyone, and then you make sure that your team members all are passionate about those values, as well. If the team members don’t believe in the vision, they’re not going to last. If you want “quality employees,” then you need to find people who authentically connect to your vision and your core values.
Hire someone who will grow with you
One of the best things Brian says in this week’s episode of The Flip King CEO: You want someone who will grow with you. You want someone who will come in and after a couple of months and say, “Hey, you’ve been doing it this way, but I’ve found a much better way of doing this.” Someone who because they connect with what you’re doing, are always looking to improve themselves and your business. As Joe says, it’s all about value, bringing value to the company and vice versa. This is a fun episode of Just the Tips, answering listener questions and dropping some knowledge.
Outline of This Episode
- [1:30] Finding a COO
- [3:10] Hiring advice
- [6:45] How to change the culture of a company
- [12:15] Authentic emotional connection
- [15:45] Don’t reinvent the wheel
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