Manifesting Your Dream Team As A Leader

Attract a diverse workforce and build unity

As a young leader, usually one of your top goals is to see consistent growth within your business. While the value of the product or service you provide is important, having a team to manage that product or service is even more vital. As a leader, your business’s workforce must have aligning values with that of your brand. They must believe in the product or service the brand is offering and find a purpose in their role for the brand. Finding the right workforce is not an easy task and does take some trial and error. So, what should you consider when you’re looking to add to your workforce and how should you look?

First, I have found that it is important to have a diverse team of workers. Having those different perspectives will give you and your workforce new approaches and ideas that you would not have been able to consider alone. Additionally, when looking to expand your team, I believe that the biggest misconception that leaders have is that they must find them. Going out and searching for the “perfect” employee(s) will more than likely not work. What will work is putting out the INTENT of what you want to find in your workforce.

To start, you must clearly define your intention and develop an action plan to see that intention to fruition. Putting your intent out there is not just saying to yourself, or even saying out loud, what you want to attract. You need to write it down on a piece of paper so you can visualize what you are looking for. This is best explained by understanding the Reticular Activating System (RAS) in your brain.

The best example of how this system works is to imagine a mother sleeping in her bed. When an extremely loud plane flies over, the mother is still readily asleep. However, if her baby starts crying, at a much quieter noise level than that of the plane, the mother wakes up. This is because the baby is much more present in her mind and in her surroundings, whereas, the plane, is something she is not even thinking about or being influenced to think about.

Therefore, putting your intention out there, writing it down, and visualizing it, will make you subconsciously focus and pay attention to find what you are looking to attract. If you want to attract a diverse workforce, diversity needs to be a part of your intention.

When your intention is out there, you must then create an action plan. In doing so, you need to understand that like attracts like. This means that you must brand yourself and your business according to what you are looking to attract and trust that the universe will make it happen.

Action plans have two collaborative approaches: Attraction and Promotion.

Attraction is seen in your brand, which encompasses your website, social media accounts, the company’s mission, vision, and value statements, marketing materials, and much more. All of these components of your business should be inclusive in some way to the groups of people you are looking for. Again, if you want a diverse workforce, diversity needs to be included and reflected within those components.

As an example, what I like to do personally to attract the workforce I want is go to networking events with my current team. This allows potential workers to see first-hand what it is like to be a part of my team. I believe that if people see my team and watch how we interact, it will attract the attention of someone who is looking for the dynamic my team shares. At events, whether it’s a networking event, business dinner, conference, or fundraiser, I tell my team to, when the chance is right, highlight and laud each other. This is especially important because it brings good energy to the atmosphere of the event you and your team are at and will help attract what you are looking for. Never underestimate the power of positivity.

Promotion can be reflected in your social media channels as well as in the groups you belong to as they are part of what makes up your brand and are a great way for you to set your intention. It is not uncommon to post what you are looking for on your social media channels for your online network to see, or, let the organizations you are a part of know exactly what it is you are looking for. Even organizations you are not a part of might be a potential fit for providing options for the diverse workforce you are seeking. You can make flyers or brochures, invest in digital marketing strategies, and post online ads. Promotion can even be as simple as running into an acquaintance at a coffee shop and letting him/her/they know that you are looking to expand your workforce and if they know of anyone, to reach out to you. Even starting up a quick friendly conversation with a complete stranger and exchanging information could find you the perfect addition to your team.

An important thing to remember when promoting what you need for your workforce is to list out the qualifications you require. Be specific and be thoughtful when putting these qualifications together, while also allowing yourself to be open-minded to potential variations or substitutions of the qualifications— otherwise, you may never find the perfect fit.

To recap, always start by writing down your intention. Know that by doing this, you will attract what you are looking for. Remember to be open-minded and aware of what is happening in your environment. Have an action plan of what you need in your workforce and what you are going to do to put it out there. See your action plan through with attraction and/or promotion. Use these two avenues to find the diverse workforce you want for your business. My last bit of advice is, even if someone checks all the boxes of what you intended to find, they still might not be the right fit. There must be chemistry between the new member and the current members of your team. Chemistry takes time to form which is why I always recommend a trial period with a new employee.