Why You Can't Find Great People

A few weeks ago, I attended an event for entrepreneurs. There were people present from all walks of life and all sorts of businesses. One of the exercises involved each of us explaining the biggest challenge we currently face as a leader.

Of the twelve people present, at least eight had challenges and frustrations around finding people and employee retention.

From every industry, at every level, I keep hearing the same refrain:

“Why can’t I find great people?”

And this day was no different. So I put on my coaching hat and I repeated the question.

“Why do you feel you can’t find great people?”

I got plenty of familiar answers:
“There aren’t any great people out there.”
“People just don’t want to work.”
“My industry isn’t sexy or exciting.”
“My industry is just different, you wouldn’t understand.”
“I can’t compete with corporate giant type salaries.”

The common thread in all these answers? They’re all external factors. All things they can’t control. There’s no responsibility taken by the entrepreneur/CEO/business owner in creating this narrative.

I looked at these genuinely frustrated folks and invited them to ask themselves the following questions:

• How would the people who work for you describe your company? What words would they use?
• What words would they use to describe the experience of working at your company?
• Why do they say they stay?
• Have you ever asked them how they feel about your leadership?
• Do they feel led?
• Do they feel important?
• Do they feel taught?
• How likely would they be to recommend your company to their family and friends?
• If you asked your people these questions, what do you think your score would be out of 10?

What happened next was fantastic.

They started to realize that the problems were internal. They started to experience a paradigm shift from “this is just the way the world is” to “there are internal factors I can control to solve this problem!”

It was remarkable to see the shift right before my eyes, seeing the lights come on.

They started to recognize that if you want to attract great people you have to put your people first.

Another big barrier to attracting great people is your belief system. If you believe the world is shit and no one wants to work, you’ll find evidence to support your theory.

If you walk around believing people are remarkable, your focus will reprogram your psyche to look for greatness.

Whether you see the proverbial glass as half full or half empty, your narrative will conform to meet that belief.

In the words of Henry Ford, “Whether you think you can, or you think you can't – you're right,”

I say all the time that your vibe attracts your tribe and I wholeheartedly believe this.

If you’re upbeat and positive, you tend to have positive friends. If you focus on your health, you attract people who are health conscious. If you smoke and drink excessively, you tend to hang around other people who do the same.

Ask yourself: How would you describe your vibe?

Here’s a hint: You might be able to describe your vibe based on the people you’re attracting. If your narrative is that you can’t find great people, that tells me a lot about what your culture is probably like.

One gentleman in particular was particularly impacted by our conversation. He was spinning. He told me that he realized he’d been looking at things completely backwards. “I see now that I am the #1 barrier to attracting great people,” he said.

And that’s the first step. Recognizing that the problem is caused by factors that you can control. You can’t get on the road to recovery until you recognize that you have a problem.

I truly hope your perspective has been shifted whereby you begin taking responsibility and start attracting great people.

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