Building a solid team is one of the most difficult
challenges you’ll face as an entrepreneur.
As it’s your company and reputation on the line, having the right group
of people behind you to support you is critical. If all that was required was mere skill of
one individual combined with the mere skill of another individual, you could
just pick and choose the best resumes and poof!
You would have the best team. But
that’s not how it works as this method does not consider human factors and soft
skills. Assembling a team requires
substantial planning and finding a balance between each individual employees’
depth of skill. Make sure talent and
communications jive between your employees and you’ll be well on your way to
building a strong team.
Most people in the workplace talk about building a team or
working as a team but few understand how to create a team and experience what
it is like to actually work on one that is thriving. Belonging to a team means belonging to
something bigger than yourself and that, in fact, starts with understanding the
mission and objectives of your company as a whole. While everyone has a specific role on the
team, how you put those roles together will, in turn, determine if you have
failed or succeeded.
First off as an entrepreneur, set a clear expectation of
what you are looking for your team to achieve.
Let your employees know what is expected of them and their
performance. Make sure they understand
why in fact you are looking to build a team environment. Support your team with resources of time,
money and exemplary personnel. Emphasize
the priorities of the team in terms of effort, time, discussion and interaction
among employees.
Make sure your team members understand why in fact they are
asked to be active participants in a team.
Teach them the strategy of how team life will help the organization
attain its business goals. Allow your
team members to be an active part in the process and help them define goals,
targets and long-term achievements. Make
sure employees understand where their work fits into the total context of the
organization.
In building a team,
first map out your business objectives carefully. As best you can, lay out what you are looking
to achieve. You don’t need an exact
roadmap but the more complete you can paint the picture of what your goals are,
the more likely you are to encourage your employees to participate in the team “game.” Additionally, this will make it easier to
match team members to required tasks and goals
Make detailed job
descriptions for each member of your team so that everyone on board knows what
is required of them. Don’t just focus on
experience; focus on communication and flexibility of your employees. This will in essence, lead to better team
work. “It is often easier to fill a gap in knowledge than it is to correct a
dysfunctional team.”
Set your business
goals during the interview process so that you can impart a series of
expectations of team work to your employees from the get-go. The best applicants have an interest in the
overall process not just the desired goal: this is what, in essence, makes a
good team player.
When hiring, look
for gaps in knowledge. Think about what
is missing; that missing piece that will make the team jive. Set clear expectations to new hires. Once your team is complete, begin a socialization
phase during which the team gets to know each other. Promote teamwork through training and
team-building activities.
While it is always
difficult to fire an employee, you can’t afford to keep those on staff who don’t
buy into your theory of team building.
If an employee does not jive with the goals and culture of your company,
it’s time to move on. Replacing an
employee can be a daunting task and slow process, but it’s worth it in the
end. One “bad apple” can bring down team
morale.
Think about
designing a bonus structure that promotes team work. Why you don’t want to create an environment
that is overly competitive and in turn might be destructive, foster healthy
competition among employees. Try using anonymous
peer reviews to evaluate employees.
Encourage your
employees to commit to the team motto. Figure
out a way to get them to dedicate themselves to accomplishing the team mission
and expected outcomes. Get your
employees to understand that a team environment fosters growth and is
beneficial for them individually, not just the group as a whole. Make sure they feel valued and are still
congratulated for their individual achievements in the midst of team
building. Recognize their own
significant contributions as a huge part in the success of the team. Keep them excited and challenged.
Define each employee’s
role in the team. Give each person an
assigned area of responsibility. While
there will always be ranks among the team, make the entry level employees feel
as if their voice and opinion is just as highly valued as those coming from the
top. Allow all members to help design
the mission, vision and strategy of the company’s goals. Everyone’s anticipated outcomes and
contributions are important. Don’t
forget that!
Make sure the team
has confidence in its ability to work together to achieve goals. Do they feel that they have the appropriate people
participating? Is everyone confident in
their peers knowledge, skills and capabilities to address and issues or
problems that may arise? Make sure you
endow your team with the resources and strategies needed to support and
accomplish its mission.
Make sure your team
is collaborating and working together as a unified group. Are members working together effectively and
interpersonally? Ensure that everyone
understands their own unique roles and responsibilities. Does the team have a modus of operandi in
place to deal with problems as they arise?
Enable them to cooperate and work together as a unit to achieve goals.
Make sure you are
communicating clearly to your team members what is expected of them. Clearly label their priorities and most
important tasks. Are you fostering an
environment where they can bring new, fresh ideas to the table and will indeed,
be heard?
Reward creative
innovation. Show your employees that you
value their ability to work in conjunction with others and grow ideas
together. Being a member of a team does
not mean that you have to fit into a certain mold. You can bring unique methods for success to
the table and go above and beyond the status quo and the mere requirements for
success.
Make sure your team is centrally coordinated by
strong leadership. While everyone on the
team can feel like an active participant, not everyone can be boss and that is
where your role as leader of the team comes in.
Make sure you set priorities for you team and give them guidance and
support them with resource allocation.
In fostering strong
team building, it is also important to make sure your employees feel a
responsibility to the team and realize that there are consequences for stepping
too far away from the team model you are looking to build. Of course, you don’t want to stifle
individual greatness, success and original ideas but your employees need to
commit themselves to the team model if that is in fact the road you plan to go
with your business.
Lastly, be prepared
for cultural changes. Not everyone might
jump on board with the team model from the get-go so you have to inspire your
employees to understand why in fact the model works and will lead to greater
individual success down the road.
Here are some
articles you might want to check out on the importance of building a team:
“10 Essential Tips
for Building Your Small Biz Team”: http://mashable.com/2010/05/05/how-to-build-a-business-team/
“How to Build Your
first Business Team”: http://juniorbiz.com/build-business-team
“How to Build a
Strong Business Management Team From Scratch”: http://www.strategicbusinessteam.com/small-business-development-strategy/how-to-build-a-strong-business-management-team-from-scratch/
Until next time…
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