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The most expensive way to fix a broken process is to hire a person to hide it. I did it for years, chasing headcount like it was the goal. But throwing a person at a broken system doesn't fix the system, it just buries the problem in payroll. Document the process first. Automate what you can. Then hire someone to make a good system great, not to patch a bad one.

@officialchadpeterman
1.4K views18 likes1:10ENSep 21, 2026
225 words1220 characters15 sentencesReadability: Middle School

Transcript

Before you approve your next hire, ask yourself this question. Are we hiring this person to compensate for a broken process? More employees seems like the shiny object. Oh, I want to have this many employees. I want to do all of this. I was in that seat for a long time. What I realized was that sometimes we were hiring people without first looking at the process or the procedure that that person was going to come in and fulfill. We have to understand what is broken in the business first before we use people to cover up problems. We have to understand all of the workings and what can be automated, especially in today with all the technology that we have at our disposal. What are all these things that we could work to make the process more efficient? Make it better. It's not that we don't want people on our team. People are the secret sauce which make the process and procedures come alive. However, we need to make sure that that process and procedure is dialed in and we are not using a person to cover up for that. So, again, before you make your next hire, have that manager, even maybe yourself, document that process and procedure and really understand what this person is coming in to help make better.