There are many elements that make up a successful business and one of them is undoubtedly the team behind the scenes. Regardless of your business type or structure, employees are the heart and soul. Not only do they perform the actions that allow your business to function, they represent the business and its values. To really get the most out of your team, you need a cohesive and positive team culture. Below you’ll find a few tips on achieving this result:
Table of Contents
Attract, Hire and Retain the Best
Whether you already have a team or are looking to build one, pay heed to this section. A team is only as effective, skilled and positive as the individuals within it. Therefore, recruiting the right people for your business is extremely important. It’s easy to be won over by an impressive resume, but look carefully at the applicant and assess whether they would be a good fit for your team. Consider their personality and working style. Business figures such as Janine Allis, Ron Bakir and Robert Crandall have all commented on the importance of having a great team.
Encourage and Enforce Team Work
If your workplace is very team-orientated, congratulations! You already have a vital ingredient for a successful team culture. By encouraging a team-focused outlook, your business will likely have a happy, relaxed and harmonious atmosphere. When employees naturally work well together, the result is also better productivity. Ways to enforce this outlook include having team meetings, social activities outside of work hours and regular team building exercises.
Clarity is Key
By having defined roles and responsibilities, your team will be able to function much easier. Arguments or misunderstandings will be avoided and everyone will know exactly how to pull their weight. Achieve this by having clear and detailed employment agreements and regular meetings or ‘catch-ups’ to stay in touch with your employees.
Diversify Your Team
Diversifying your team is not about having a mixture of incompatible individuals. Rather, it’s about cross-training your employees over time in order to fully develop their capabilities and safeguard your business. Not only will they feel invested in and cared for, but you will be strengthening your business. By having two employees who can do a particular function instead of one, your business will avoid the pitfalls of reliance and stagnation. Additionally, your employees will gain new perspectives that will allow them to empathise and understand their colleagues.
Make Feedback Compulsory
A great workplace is one where everyone feels as though their voice is being heard. Give your team this opportunity by implementing a structured feedback process. This could involve regular one-on-one feedback sessions, feedback forms after every project and employee performance plans. Ensure that everyone is subjected to this feedback, including yourself! Don’t forget to generously reward employees when they receive positive feedback; by celebrating success, your team culture will become a lot more fun and supportive.
It worked for Ron Bakir, Janine Allis and Robert Crandall and it can work for you. Attract a great team and then use the above strategies to turn your team culture into something fantastic. If you have tips or experience to share, comment in the box below.
Photo credits: Ambro – FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Retaining is the tricky part here. It’s not just enough to pay high salaries.
These tips would really help those who have a business. I wish I have one.
This is a good post and I can actually see some of these happening in most companies here. Although it is always never a guarantee that each pointers will work in one place, it is good to know all these especially if you’re in the management and working in a multi-cultural scene.
Compulsory feedback is a great idea as you will have time to know each employees thoughts.
Having good relationship with your teammates is necessary. It makes every work easy to do.
Hiring the best in the lot for your business is a great starting point. Whether business owners admit it or not, the people working for them are the best asset, you treat them good and they perform well.
Thanks for the information, you’ve write a very nice and resourceful article, something i might look back whenever i consider to open up a small business.
team building and team work is indeed very important, these days approaches to education focus more on collaborative work to prepare students to be more successful later.
I totally agree with making the feedback compulsory. Most employees would love to have their voices heard.
Encourage and Enforce Team Work – workmates need not compete with each other but rather help to achieve a common goal at work.
I agree, having the right team in your business matters a lot! Thanks for the helpful tips… I still dream of having my own business someday.
These are very useful tips 🙂 I like the #2 encourage and enforce team work. When everybody is working at the same phase, job will get done in no time. It is awesome to give each employee a bonus too 🙂
Such a very relevant post! Our family friend is in the process of starting up her small business in Las Vegas and guess what, I am letting her read this post. I am sure she will learn many things! 🙂