Attracting and Retaining Great People
Two dedicated team members is better than five dedicated team members and and one undedicated one. Undedicated people have the ability to kill the productivity of everyone on the team to their level of dead-ication. They may have been committed in the beginning, but over time, things change and people change and their commitment to the vision may not be as strong for whatever reason. It's nothing personal to give them the boot, but the CEO must always remember that the vision is more important than any individual while at the same time recognizing that his/her team is the most valuable thing to that vision. People tend to join organizations for one or more of three reasons: the vision, the team, the technology.

The Vision:
Commitment to the vision has the highest form of commitment because the vision rarely changes. Every company is trying to solve some problem that will make life easier for someone. If they aren't, then won't be in business that long. Even if the team or technology changes over time, a person committed to the vision will still be dedicated because their goal is to realize the vision by any means necessary.

The Team:
Commitment to the team is important and required, however teams change. Great people love to work with other great people. However, if someone is only committed to a particular person or people on a team, as soon as they leave, then that person's commitment to the vision and the rest of the team starts to fade and they become less valuable to the vision.

The Technology:
Commitment to the technology is important, but technology is always evolving and the current technical solution is only one of many ways to potentially achieve the overall vision. At some point, the company may adopt a new strategy that obviates the current technology. If that is the case, then the person who was only on board to exercise their passion for that particular technology will fall off.

If you can find talented people that are committed to the vision first, team second, and technology third, you will have built a team with the right motivation. Someone committed to all three is priceless. You may want to double-check the motivations of your current team on these three areas as well.

This article was syndicated by Downtobusiness.com