Turn Up The Heat On Your Team

By Gennifer Biggs, security, storage, and managed services editor

I often hear questions from the channel about how to hire the right team and then inspire performance with customer service and the company's success as the ultimate goals. That left me even more intrigued by a conversation I had with an MSP I met during the summer. Jason Caras, coCEO of IT Authorities, and I talked about several topics at the event where we met — but what really captivated me was Caras' unbridled enthusiasm for the personnel side of his company.

It's Caras' stance that companies only succeed if their employees succeed. "Success starts when you ask yourself, 'What am I going to become as a person and a leader?'" explains Caras. "Knowing that answer translates into success." He says having high performance goals for employees — both at work and in their personal lives — has been the backbone of IT Authorities' success. Why? Well, when you are invested in your own success, you tend to be more invested in your company's success. Caras actually believes so strongly in leadership that he can commonly be found presenting on that topic at colleges and universities around Florida.

Caras says he feels the secret sauce at IT Authorities is asking everyone in the company to be a leader. "IT Authorities is a place where leadership is required regardless of what position you hold," he says. Consider this overview of IT Authorities' workplace culture that is posted on its website: "We believe the most important issue facing businesses today is human capital. The world is filled with employees who ask 'what am I getting?' and, simply put, the world needs more people that ask 'what am I becoming?' We believe companies have a responsibility far above and beyond financial security and payroll. We believe companies must focus on personal development of their employees followed by professional development to reach extraordinary and lasting success and not the other way around."

To achieve that success, Caras relies on two concepts that have support Caras' own leadership achievements. The first is the 212-degree concept that says that the single degree between hot (211 degrees) and boiling (212) water is the difference that creates steam, a powerful energy force. The idea is that similarly, a single extra step of effort in your live and job can have the same energizing effect. The second concept is CANI (Constant And Never-ending Improvement), a Japanese management philosophy advocating incremental steps toward improvement through constructive teamwork and personal discipline. Will these concepts work for your company? Only, says Caras, if you as the business owner or leader, expects the same from yourself as your employees.

Want to learn more about Caras' philosophy? He will be our guest on the next Business Solutions Lunch & Learn webinar at 12:30 p.m. ET on Thursday, Oct. 21. Click here to register now!