Most of us are not born leaders, especially entrepreneurs.

We start a company, put in the hard work, and have the will power to stay the course.

Then one day we hire people. Some work out and some don’t.

Here are the few lessons I have learned from that.

Leadership is about having employees follow your lead. I believe the quickest way to get followed is to ask questions and be interested in the employee personally.

Be very interested in them as a person. You must know what they are trying to accomplish by working for you. Do they want to be mentored or just trying to have some spending money for their kids? Once you know the answer then you MUST make sure they are successful in that area.

Mentored people need access to other folks you know so they can learn. They need one on one time with you. If they are a working mom make sure they have flex time and can work from home. Make sure they leave on time to pick up kids and go to games.

Make sure you and the person write up a job description. Tell them in football if you can’t score then you don’t get to stay on the team. Same as this job. If you can’t do this task then we will move you to another position or you will have to go home. Be very clear about that. Most people will quit before you fire them because they will know they are not doing the job.

Break jobs down into small pieces. Kind of like McDonald’s. One guy does the fries and another does the cash register. That way people can get really good at their job and you don’t end up with someone leaving you and having to spend a lot of time training someone to run all the stations. Plug and play is what I call it. I would rather have lots of people doing small tasks than one key person who could walk out and put me in a coma looking for a replacement.

Employees are always looking out for number one and that is not you! They will leave for better opportunities are for someone who will love them more. They won’t usually leave just overpay but for more love and flex time.