Q1: You have one employee with no experience and one with a lot of experience, both resulting in the same level and quality of output. You need to cut back on staff and invest in your core skill-base. Who do you fire and who do you invest in?

a) The first with no experience

b) The second with lots of experience

If you answered a) you were wrong. If both are resulting in the same level of output, then the guy with lots of experience is under-performing. Take the one with no experience, give him a boost in training and gradually assign him more responsibilities till he feels his experience growing along with his confidence. In the long run, that staffer will be a much great asset to you than the second.

Q2: You have a troublesome employee that often talks back to you, but when it comes down to it does his work well, supports his team members and has a passion for the company’s vision. You have a second that is the nicest guy anyone is likely to meet, but cannot get behind the company’s vision. Who do you fire?

a) The troublesome one

b) The nice one

If you picked a) you were wrong. Never have employees that cannot passionately get behind the vision of the company. Its better to have an unpleasant employee passionate about the growth of the company’s vision than a pleasant one that does not believe in it.

Q3: You promote a hardworking person to a higher level and a long time manager opposes that employee’s ascension despite himself not performing his mangerial duties to acceptable standards. You suspect the opposition to be borne out of jealousy or personal reasons. Who do you fire?

a) Keep the manager and fire the employee

b) Fire the manager

If you picked a) you were wrong. If managerial staff are opposed to those below them getting promotions because they feel threatened, their petty personal reasons are getting in the way of their focus on what is best for the company. Always reward those that work the hardest and deliver the best results more than those that don’t, regardless of rank.

Kosala is pretty sure he has started a company or two. He is also more or less certain he has worked in a few others. In the midst of all this, he went and did some thinking – on improving things at companies. Then he wrote it all down. ‘Nuff said.

Kosala currently resides in Sweden and runs the technical support department of an IT company.

If you are running a company or running a group and are feeling that the team is not going where they need to go, then here is a quick start guide to get things headed in the right way.

A – always hire people smarter than yourself

You might think its easier to be a good boss to people that are quiet, don’t complain, and just do as they are told. A good team needs people engaged in building its future. Not YAY-sayers but people that can find problems, and work to eradicate them. Hire intelligent people that are not afraid to disagree with you and that can do their work well.

B – be smart enough to get out of their way

Once you have done the above, give them the resources and infrastructure they need to do their work well and get the hell out of their way.

C – cure yourself of the need to look for complex solutions where only simple ones are needed

If you have a team member working less efficiently because his computer is slower than it should be. Don’t waste time looking for ways to get an overall grasp of the entire IT infrastructure. Don’t sit there wondering if today’s investment will pay of tomorrow. Its a computer. Just buy him a new one. Do it now.

D- don’t save money on things that cause more expenses in other things

If you cut corners in preparation to get a contract out the door faster so that you can bill the client faster, if it causes more work for your support team due to lack of proper planning, or causes more work for your production team due to lack of proper time allotment – you have NOT made faster money. NOR have you made more money. You’ve just made a mistake.