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What kind of people should I have on my bench?

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The first step in building your bench, of course, is selecting the people who will be on your bench. Quality people make the difference between a profitable bench and an unproductive one. In order to build your bench, look for these kinds of people:

- People with different strengths: You want to build your bench with people who are different from you, and also different from each other. It�s somewhat of a clich�, but a football team with eleven quarterbacks has no one to block, no one to hand off to, and no one who can catch the ball. If you have six key advisors, for example, don�t have six dreamers or six practical thinkers�have three of each.

- People who work well together: Knute Rockne, the famed Notre Dame football coach said, �The secret is to work less as individuals and more as a team. As a coach, I play not my eleven best, but my best eleven.� Look for people who build off each other�s strengths and don�t tear each other down.

- Self-motivated people of character: Put simply, you want good workers. If the people on your bench are self-motivated, you won�t have to spend time motivating them yourselves. If you have people of character, you won�t have to worry about ethical failings. Put people on your bench who want to excel, not just �get by.�

A bench with different strengths gives you more viewpoints on an issue and more possible solutions to a problem. A bench that works well together makes for a more enjoyable and more productive workplace. Self-motivated people of character lets you focus on the job at hand and not spend your time lighting fires of motivation and putting out fires of conflict.

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