Building the Company Team

By Jimmy Walker

As a banker, I am often asked what a business owner needs to be successful.  My first thought is that the individual must have a passion to succeed.  Success requires a lot of hard work and an unending supply of persistence!  Obviously there are other ingredients; providing a good product with excellent service, choosing the right segment in the marketplace, adequate capital, and even good luck all play a part.  But perhaps the most important resource is the team the business owner puts together.  The team consists of the owner's partners, staff and outside professionals.  I believe that it is this latter resource that is often undervalued and does not receive enough attention.  Small businesses generally cannot afford to have full time professionals in all the positions that you would find in a large company.  For example, we cannot fill positions such as manager of human resources, marketing, public relations, legal affairs, finance, etc.  Accordingly, the small business owner must chose to outsource some of these positions.

Before assembling a team though, the business owner needs to take a personal inventory.  It is critical to honestly identify one's strengths and weaknesses as well as preferences and dispositions.  With this information, the business owner can then assemble a team of internal and external resources that will complement his or her strengths and provide expertise in areas where they are weak.

Today, more than ever before, a business owner faces challenges and opportunities in practically every facet of his or her business.  To be successful, the business owner would need to have expertise and current knowledge in all of the key business activities I mentioned earlier.  Few owners can cover all of these bases by themselves.  In fact, most business owners may excel in only one or two of these areas.  For example, an individual whose expertise is finance would benefit from having access to resources that can provide marketing skills, legal and insurance advice.  More often than not though, the business owner believes that they can do it all.  Unfortunately, many learn they cannot.

It is not enough to identify the skills that the business owner may or may not have.  Matching complementary personalities is also critical.  The gung-ho entrepreneur will constantly clash with the fiscally conservative financial advisor until the two are either able to communicate and understand how the other operates or until they part ways in frustration!

The next challenge is to determine which of the required business activities should be delegated to in-house staff versus outside resources.  For most businesses, only a few of the key business activities are required on a daily basis.  The others, while important, are only required as situations arise.  For example, a local banker should be an integral part of any business owner's team, but it is not necessary or practical to have that individual as a full-time employee.

Finding qualified resources is not difficult.  The Chamber along with your network of peers, friends, vendors other professionals are excellent sources for referrals.  The odds are in your favor that someone in one of your networking groups will personally know someone with the skills and experience you require.

Running a business today is like managing a sports team.  As the owner and manager, your objective is to assemble a team of players that can cover all of the positions and have the required skills.  Your business, like the sports team operates in a competitive environment and as the owner and manager, you should be playing to win!

Jimmy Walker is the Chairman and CEO of the North Atlanta National Bank and also serves on the Board of Directors for the Greater North Fulton Chamber of Commerce.   North Atlanta National Bank is located at 10595 Old Alabama Road Connector, Suite 21, in Alpharetta, GA.  For more information, call 678.277.8400 or visit the bank's web site at www.nanb.com.