If you feel that your team doesn’t take any initiative to step up, or if you feel like you’re always micromanaging individual members, don’t fret; Dan Martell understands your frustration.

Dan is a Canadian entrepreneur who built five technology companies and sold the last three. 

Dan believes that if you play your cards right, you can have a team you’re proud of, who bring you more ideas about solutions to problems you didn’t even know existed. To help you build such a high-performing team, Dan shares his thoughts on the different characteristics he looks for when hiring.

They take initiative

You’d want somebody who doesn’t wait to be told what to do. As stated by Dan:

In the world, there’s two types of people: there are people that need a to-do list and there are people that create to-do lists. And to me, somebody that takes initiative knows how to create a to-do list.

For instance, if your startup needs more customers, a proactive performer takes it upon themselves to come up with an idea without you asking them. They’re incapable of doing nothing.

Desire for excellence

If you want to build a world-class organisation, you need team members who strive for excellence. And look for people who pursue quality in their own lives, whatever their passions are.

You need that desire for excellence because it’s not something you can coach. It’s either inherently there or it’s not.

Bias for solution

To find out if a person is predisposed to coming up with solutions, see how they react when presented with a problem. If they default to looking for other issues that may come about, avoid them.

You’d want people that come to you with solutions. You need people who get excited by the opportunity to create a positive outcome.

Are transparent

Transparency means being honest (e.g. about their performance numbers, tasks, challenges and various other details). They’re not complaining; they’re just being open, especially among your team.

After all, there’s no reason to hold these things close to the chest. In fact, having your team openly sharing relevant information will help you know if they’re over their limit.

If team members aren’t willing to be transparent, you have an organisational problem. At the end of the day, your startup has a mission – to deliver for your customers. And the more information is shared among your team, the better the decisions they can make for your customers.

Sense of urgency

You’d want team members who have a sense of acting swiftly. They need to have that excitement to jump out of bed and get it done.

Unfortunately, this isn’t something you can teach people. They either find challenges and step up, or look at problems and react like a deer in headlights.

Customer empathy

Ultimately, the purpose of your startup is to create customers. Since there’s no business without people who buy your product or service, you want teammates who care for your customers.

But having the desire to empathise with customers isn’t something that’s easily acquired, so you’ll need people who naturally have it.

Here’s Dan Martell’s complete video:

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