When you are trying to break out from being an ugly duckling to become a graceful swan one of the key areas to look at first is your team.
Whether it is you first hire or your 50th, the people that you surround yourself with at work are what makes your company great.
But how do you make your team great?
There really is only one answer;
Recruit the best, continually.
You should always be looking for talent in your business, regardless of whether you can afford them or not.
Why?
If you find that talent then they will become an asset in your business. Then like any asset it is simply a case of funding it. And that is what we do best, we help you solve the funding issues.
The best talent are those who are committed 100% to the values of your business and believe in your mission. Those who act selflessly in the best interests of your business even if at the expense of their own working conditions and who collaborate to get the best results.
It’s privileged to say that we work with such a team here at Accentis. We work together to go above and beyond in order to deliver our promise.
Our promise is simple;
We want to end entrepreneurial poverty – to make your business more of a success so that you can do all of the things that you want to do.
And this is why we build a team who buy into this vision.
- We don’t suffer internal politics.
- We have a flat management structure.
- We get stuff done.
- Our business grows.
- Our environment is productive.
- We don’t have to work in an office.
- Customers are wowed.
Can you say that you have a great team?
We can and here is what we do to engender a great team:
- Every individual is innovative and takes ownership of ideas to make them happen.
- Every Wednesday we gather either physically or virtually to run through our ideas and challenges, usually over cake.
- We won’t hesitate to argue and put up a fight for something we believe in.
- We give good honest candid feedback to the team – no holds barred.
- We are all in it together – that us and them attitude doesn’t work in our business.
- We all act like we own the business and it is this single ideology that drives the business forwards, daily.
The big problems
Changing a culture is hard, very hard.
It is near impossible to reversing the damage that previous employers have done to people when they employ. Hence it is critical to find the right type of character from the get go.
We find that a lot of employers suppress the initiative of their employees because:
- They like to feel that they’re the ones with all the power
- They want to feel that people are only doing what they tells them to do or
- they’re control freaks and simply can’t let go.
In essence, most employers micro manage and hyper-control.
Micro management is the single biggest reason why staff will not perform and this is something that only you can change.
If you find yourself with a high staff turnover, don’t look back at the exit interview to seek reasons why staff leave. Instead, review the last three months worth of work they’ve done and meeting you’ve had. Was it you that told them what to do, when and how?
That’s micromanagement and it is this that stifles your own business growth
Recruiting for skills rather than attitude.
Skills can be taught and developed.
It may take time to develop those skills, but you can develop them if you foster a culture of continual learning.
What you can’t do is change people’s attitude
Attitude is based upon an individual’s values and beliefs – something that was ingrained into them throughout childhood and can not be quickly nor easily changed.
If the team member does not have the right attitude, then they will find is extremely hard to buy into the business’ mission.
But when they do have the right attitude and become part of your mission then you’ll quickly discover that where there’s a will, there’s a way.
Stop hanging onto the wrong people…
The wrong people will stop you from having a great team. They’ll very quickly become the energy vampires and stifle your business growth.
These type of people are easy to spot and if you have one you already know.
What you also know if that you need to do something about it, but haven’t
Incorrectly persevering people who just aren’t right for your business neglects the right people in your business.
If you have to manage both them and the ramifications of how they make your A team players feel, then you are wasting time in not developing your A team players.
And if you don’t show your A team players some love, then they’ll soon feel unappreciated and move on, leaving you with the… all the crap!
How is that great team culture developed…?
You don’t need to be a natural born leader of people in order to develop a great team culture.
You just need to treat people right, all of the time and then you’ll find a great team of people who are behind you ,every step of the way.
You as the leader, the entrepreneur and as the business owner need to articulate:
- What you’re doing
- Why you’re doing it
- How you’re doing it.
A great team culture is developed by recognising that people want to learn and develop.
People want to make themselves better and will look to improve their knowledge as a way of gaining forward rewards, whether they are intrinsic or extrinsic rewards.
If is your role as a leader to keep people thirsty for new things, to allow them to learn and develop.
If you stop them from learning, then your business will stop growing.
It is a simple fact, if people stagnate then this allows your competition to change, develop and growth much faster than you.
Remember, your business isn’t about you, it’s about your people, it’s about your great team.
You need everyone in your business to be looking for new ideas, whether that is how to develop your product or service, what products to buy in or how to create the right atmosphere for your customers. Everyone from the leader down should be looking to push your business forwards, faster.
The quick win…
Go out and buy a pack of thank you cards, now
For every single member of your team and write something unique about each of them to them and tell them why you value them.
Tell them exactly what they bring to the business, how they contribute to the business mission and how they are part of your great team.
You will likely find that for some people, this is an easy exercise and the words just flow.
These are your A Team
For others it’s really difficult to find the right words.
For the team members on this list you need to step back and figure out why you can’t understand what they bring to your team.
For these team members you’ll soon realise that either these people aren’t right for your business or you haven’t taken the time to understand them.