Doing More with Less in “Multipliers”
In November 2022, more than 188 tech companies announced layoffs of between 1% and 100% of their workforce. In the world of small business, the labor hoarding and over abundance of tech companies feels incredibly foreign. An economic downturn in SMB land more likely looks like hiring freezes and “doing more with less.” Liz Wiseman’s book, Multipliers, left a lasting impression on me about what this actually means – how we can leverage resources to create competitive advantage, especially in an economic downturn.
Resource leverage is a far richer concept than merely “accomplishing more with less.” Multipliers don’t get more with less; they get more by using more. More of people’s intelligence and capability, enthusiasm and trust. As one CEO put it, “Eighty people can either operate with the productivity of fifty or they can operate as though they were five hundred. (pg. 17)
So what exactly is a “Multiplier”? Wiseman describes this type of person as someone who is able to get more out of people than they knew they had. It’s a leadership paradigm for accessing intelligence and potential in your team.
What could you accomplish if you could get twice as much from your people? The reason for the difference is that when people work with Multipliers, they hold nothing back. They offer the very best of their thinking, creativity, and ideas. They give more than their jobs require and volunteer their discretionary effort, energy, and resourcefulness. They actively search for more valuable ways to contribute. They hold themselves to the highest standards. They give 100 percent of their abilities to the work—and then some. (pg. 12)
In a labor market beset by “quiet quitting” and “the Great Resignation,” the ability to utilize the full potential of your workforce can mean the difference between success and failure. Wiseman outlines 5 key attributes that make someone a Multiplier and even better, a Multiplier of Multipliers. I’d like to dig into my favorite of the five, attracting and optimizing talent by becoming a Talent Magnet.
Meg Whitman, former CEO of both Ebay and Hewlett Packard, started her career as many fresh-faced MBAs do, by joining the consulting team at Bain and Co. Early in her time there, a common refrain was repeated by several senior consultants. “If you’re smart, you’ll find a spot on Mitt Romney’s team.” Mitt Romney was a Talent Magnet. In practice, that looked like going beyond reviewing resumes to getting to know each person and understanding the range of capabilities they brought to the team. It meant matching team members’ natural talents to client engagement methods. It meant asking questions about goals and what roadblocks were in the way of achieving them: “What is the next challenge for you? What would be a stretch assignment? What is getting in the way of your being successful?”
We frequently ask questions like these with both our partners and our team members at Permanent Equity. Preserving fun is a key ambition of this exercise but also, the ability to find the intersection of what a person enjoys, what they’re good at, and what the company needs, is akin to unlocking a superpower, or as Wiseman calls it, creating a Multiplier. Personally, when I interview candidates I often ask them to describe to me what their superpowers are. What I’m looking for is someone self aware enough to understand this intersection.
Small business owners and operators might be feeling the instinct to batten down the hatches to weather the recessionary storm that looms on the horizon. But looked at differently, this lean time might be the exact proving ground needed to identify and deploy the talent that already exists within your organization. This can be done by utilizing 4 essential practices.
1) Look for Talent Everywhere
Multipliers have a rich view of the intelligence of the people around them. They don’t see a world where just a few people deserve to do the thinking. (pg. 18)
At Permanent Equity, we’ve gotten a reputation for sidestepping what some might consider traditional private equity educational routes. (Finance undergrad + 2 years of Investment Banking + Top Tier MBA = CEO of portfolio company.) For the record, we’re not against any part of this path but we’re also not filtering for it. Excellent talent exists everywhere, and when you’re looking for SMB operational talent, no amount of schooling can replace boots-on-the-ground experience and the learnings that come from sleepless nights spent stressing over business decisions that impact real people.
2) Find People’s Native Genius
A native genius or talent is something that people do, not only exceptionally well, but absolutely naturally. They do it easily (without extra effort) and freely (without condition). What people do easily, they do without conscious effort… Finding someone’s native genius is a key that unlocks discretionary effort. (pg. 47)
Have conversations with your direct reports and follow Mitt Romney’s playbook. These conversations are what will lead you down the path to uncovering their native genius. Listen more than you talk in these meetings. Look for commonalities between the tasks that your team members enjoy and also those in which they find success. What traits fuel these tasks? What roles in your organization are heavily focused on that skillset? Don’t be afraid if that role looks very different than the one that team member holds currently.
3) Utilize People to Their Fullest
Once a Talent Magnet has uncovered the native genius of others, he or she looks for opportunities that demand that capability. Some of these are obvious; others require a fresh look at the business or the organization. Once they’ve engaged the person’s true genius, they shine a spotlight on them so other people can see their genius in action…When leaders connect people’s natural passions and native genius to big opportunities, those people are used at their highest point of contribution. (pg. 49)
Finding opportunities to utilize your team to their fullest can prove challenging but becomes much easier when you allow them to assist in project identification. The conversation can be simple. “We’ve identified that you’re great at X. How do you think you could apply that skillset across the company?” Give them opportunities to work with different departments and outside of whatever traditional parameters may have existed previously. Connect them with other strong leaders who have skill sets and ideas that might benefit them. Give your team members opportunities to fail in a supported and controlled way. When they know they can fail and it will be okay, it unleashes them to take chances and hit home runs they might have otherwise shied away from.
4) Remove the Blockers
Talent Magnets go beyond just giving people resources. They remove impediments, which quite often means removing people who are blocking and impeding the growth of others. In almost every organization there are people who overrun others, consuming the resources needed to fuel the growth of people around them. Like weeds in a garden bed, they choke the development of the intelligence around them. (pg. 52)
Removing blockers can be as literal as removing underperforming teammates, or it can be more nuanced, like simplifying internal processes so fewer roadblocks to action exist. Poor performers like to camp out in organizations where gears turn slowly. These organizations usually have low expectations and convoluted processes, which make flying under the radar easier than at companies with a culture of high performance and transparency.
2023 is going to be a pivotal year for your company. You have the opportunity to get under the hood of your organization, figure out what’s working and what needs to be fixed, repurposed, recharged, or removed.
Albert Einstein is credited with saying, “The significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them.” (pg. 219)
By understanding and leveraging the talent resources that already exist within your organization, you will be able to attack problem solving at a higher level. Accessing the intelligence and effectiveness of your team by identifying Multipliers requires first that you become one yourself. So sit down and ask yourself: What’s on your plate that you enjoy? What’s on your plate that someone else could do better? What would be an exciting next challenge for you? Then get to work taking action on your answers.
By Kelie Morgan
Book Referenced: Multipliers by Liz Wiseman