Superstar Staff: Can you afford one?

Do you have one on your team?
All business leaders want one in their team. A superstar is the person in your staff who sells the most, is loved by the customers the most, and loved by the team the most. This person thrives in the limelight and is the one most people turn to when they have questions or don’t know what to do in certain situations. The superstar is the most charismatic and influential person on the team. The one who is always on the go.

Other team members...
It is more than likely that the rest of the team pales in comparison to your superstars. They don’t make as many sales, and their customers and other team members probably like them just fine, though you wouldn’t say they were anyone’s favourites. They do okay, and they sometimes tend to coast.

Those who coast cost us the most.
But the problem is, those who coast cost us the most. They are the ones who make mistakes the most, since they have not taken the time to really study their products. Because they seem disengaged, they tend to be the ones customers complain about the most. Their output is low, which means that if you are paying them per hour, they cost more than those that produce more.
So what about superstar staff? They actually cost the least, since they produce the most per working hour, so paying them more is only equitable.

Superstar or superstars?
What you can’t have is one superstar. Just one superstar is one of the worst things you as a business owner could have. You need to have more than one.  

Here’s why:

1.Growth
If you want to have exponential business growth, having more than one superstar makes the most sense. In fact, if more than half of your team are superstars, imagine how much business they would bring in. Imagine how much customer loyalty you would have. Imagine how much easier and how much more fun it would be to be in a team with those superstars.

2. Changes
Superstars aren’t afraid of challenges. In fact, they love challenges. New ideas and concepts don’t faze them. Change, any change in their environment is a piece of cake. They also tend to impart their knowledge to those around them when asked to. You would have a team full of dynamic, flexible, knowledgeable people who really make a difference in their work.

3. Leaving
Superstars are great at what they do, so they are the ones most headhunted. It would be a disaster if you only had one superstar on your team and they left the company. It would take at least half a year, sometimes even longer, to find another superstar. If you had more than one superstar on your team, losing one would be a big loss, but at least you wouldn’t have lost them all.

Building a team of superstars
When I first started in business a long, long time ago, I found it quite challenging to find resources on how to build great teams. Management books skimmed the subject and inferred that businesses depend on their people to grow. I knew training them was crucial, but it is only recently I learned that if you want a great team, you need to engage everyone on a consistent basis. 
This can be quite tricky, given that business owners have their hands full almost all the time. Talking with your staff can sound frivolous and counterproductive to you, but not doing so could cost you more money and time in the long run. 
That being said, “talking” with your staff must have a purpose, a direction, or an objective, if you will. This must be more than just tea-and-gossip time. Talks with your team is your time to get to know what your team members truly want for themselves, and what roles they play in the company. This is your time to motivate them, make them understand that they are a crucial part of the team. That way they appreciate their roles and the business more. 

​Engaging your team is a way to build a solid group of superstars.


Call to Action!
To recap, a superstar can move your business forward. But a team of superstars can move your business even further, in the speed of light. So can you afford to have just one?