By now, you’ve likely seen hundreds if not thousands of messages about what “you need to do now to make your company scale and better than ever.”
Could they be more vague? As a business owner, leader, and human, I want to share some of my journey with you. I hope it inspires you as you grow your own business. This is no tall tale, and it will ignite a shift in your framework when you approach a growth mindset.
The Problem (Me)
Once upon a time, there was a fresh-out-of-college guy named … let’s call him … OK, it was me. When I first entered the workforce, I was hired by a huge corporation. I was treated pretty lousy, at best. I was a number. A number that needed to produce big numbers for the company. I wasn’t noticed, let alone nurtured. I feared losing my job every day. There was zero communication. The few things that were said to me were along the lines of, “Please. You can’t sit there. You’re a mere analyst.” I felt undervalued, borderline depressed, and completely dehumanized. And I had one foot out the door the whole time.
When I got the guts, I went out there and began my own IT company, Olmec, which I have since sold off. As an entrepreneur and new business owner, I vowed, decreed, and screamed from rooftops that I would not, could not, ever, ever, ever treat people the way I had been treated at my corporate job. But here’s the deal—we were computer guys with a little company, and there weren’t really any team members to manage, so it was me and my partner pretty much just doing our thing and telling inappropriate jokes.
After the release of Profit First and the subsequent business that I established with my cofounder, we began hiring staff members. As the business grew, so did our team. Our leadership skills? Not so much.
I lost several talented employees. Even though I thought I was a considerate boss, paid fairly, made work-life balance a priority, and still told semi-inappropriate jokes, my team members were still keeping their resumes fresh and ready for the next best thing.
What Was I Doing Wrong?
Everything. Mostly, it was recruiting, retention, and raising the bar for my company. I learned some major lessons. Not only did I lose people to other companies, but I really liked those people. Equally if not more crucially, I wasn’t prepared for the massive expense of rehiring and productivity disruption.
The Correction
All of this is to say I’ve transformed my team, my leadership, and my entire business by taking actionable steps that are not vague, like the aforementioned promises. I began to brainstorm with my cowriter, AJ Harper, about how my business had changed, how the shutdown had created massive amounts of employees quitting (3.7 million in 2023 alone), and what companies would need to do in order to thrive, not just survive the IT talent crunch.
After years of research and interviews with employees and their bosses, AJ and I wrote All In, providing business owners (big and small) and human resources teams with proven strategies to create and maintain a business that weathers any unpredictable market or global crisis. Here’s a quick overview of one of the strategies I now use in my business.
The FASO Model
The huh? Another acronym? Yup—and it’s the best dang one to start using today. FASO stands for:
1. Fit – Adapt roles. Don’t look for a person who can do it all. Look for the person who can do best at what you need most.
2. Ability – Unleash potential. People who want to do a job always outperform people who need to do a job. Seek the want. The desire. The thirst.
3. Safety – Cultivate security. People do their best when they’re not worried about the rest. Protect your team and set up conditions in which they feel safe, enabling them to lean into contribution.
4. Ownership – Empower ownership. When team members are designated ownership over aspects of their job, the natural tendency is for them to put everything they have into it.
Now How The Heck Do You Implement This?
It starts with you, but it’s nothing to be overwhelmed by. Consider this: Your willingness to examine your own actions, decisions, and communication style is what sets the stage for accountability and growth within your business and team. (Cue the theme song: “It’s me, hi … I’m the problem, it’s me.”) Yup. Leadership, my friends, is a continuous journey of self-discovery and improvement.
Remember
Traditional leadership includes leading with fear, intimidation, and/or stoicism. The result? Lots of insecure—and therefore ineffective—employees. Employees who are, most likely, running your business. Your team is the face of the business, they produce your offering, and they communicate with your clients and customers. They are the foundation of your business. I know, shocker, your business doesn’t revolve around you. It revolves around the people working to drive your revenue and are working toward your mission and goals.
You want a thriving workforce that shines and sticks around. One that takes full responsibility for their work and outcomes. I’m building a community of employees who love our organization and are invested in its growth through the FASO model. If you want to overcome the IT talent crunch and build a world-class team that you and your customers trust and love to work with (and let’s face it, one that your accounts love too), actively using the FASO model is vital.
Here’s my challenge to you: Preorder the book All In, or better yet, attend the IT Sales and Marketing Boot Camp April 2–5 where I’ll be speaking about it. Once you’ve read the book, choose just one strategy to begin to apply to your business right away. Email me your story, and I will highlight your company on social media: [email protected].
You’ve got this. I should know. I’ve been there.
