12 Simple Things A Leader Can Do To Build
A Phenomenal Team
Whether you’re just starting
to hire or expanding your existing team, attracting and encouraging top talent
can be difficult. You want to find the best of the best – and find ways to help them thrive in your company.
In general, I’ve
found that the following advice helps ensure that your employees are happy and
successful – and that you are, too.
1. Don’t Settle for Mediocre: It’s not fun to
fire people, so employers often settle for the first so-so person they hire.
However, this practice can lead to weaknesses within a team. Once you realize a
member of the team is performing at a mediocre level, call him out, but more importantly, support him to do better. If
there’s no improvement, it’s time to find a new rock star for your team.
2. Be a Thought Leader: Top talent is
too good to work for middling companies with weak brands. The more you can
position yourself as an authority in your industry, the more talent will
naturally be attracted to your business. I try to contribute to at least two
publications each month to share my expertise with others, and those articles show up when potential
hires research my company.
3. Trust is Crucial: A team member
can be highly intelligent and a hard worker, but if you can’t trust that
person, it’s time to let him go. If you keep that person on, you’ll have a
bigger problem to deal with when disaster strikes. Your daily operations could
take a big hit if you retain employees you can’t trust.
4. Forget the Money… at First: Hire a person
whose main motivation is to build a team, or someone who has a passion for your
business in general. Money is extremely important, but when it’s the main thing
on someone’s mind, it can be a distraction. It’s important for your employees
to care about the success of your business, and if all they see are dollar
signs, their hearts may not be in it.
5. Personal Lives are
Important: Recognize that your team members have personal lives. It’s easy
to take small steps to celebrate birthdays, weddings, or other significant
moments in their lives. If you see an opportunity to help a team member outside
of work, it pays to take it. It helps build loyalty with your employees,
and they tend to pay it forward with other team members.
6. Maintain Systematic
Processes: Once you’ve achieved success in a certain area, create a process that mimics that
success over and over. A great read on this topic is “The Checklist Manifesto.”
In it, a hospital created checklists to create a systematic process for
maintaining good health in the building, and they decreased infections by 66%.
Checklists increase the effectiveness – and success – of a team.
7. Diversity Brings Innovation: There’s a
reason diversity is a common topic among employers. To build a great team, you
need diverse thinkers. A variety of races, ages, and sexes can help a team
think outside the box and hit problems from many different angles. Plus, it makes
your office a more interesting place to work.
8. It’s Okay to Be Friends: In most
offices, you’ll spend more time with your coworkers than you do with your
family. Being friends and getting along not only increases performance, it also
leads to a great work environment. As long as you keep a goal-oriented focus
and hold people accountable, you shouldn’t be scared of a team that’s made up
of your friends.
9. Play to People’s Strengths: Find out what
your employees are great at, but don’t forget about their weaknesses. Each team
member should be spending time doing what he or she does best, but you should
recognize weaknesses and help your employees improve. Don’t miss out on
creating an all-around rock star employee just because he really “kills it” at one
thing.
10. Great Teams Read Together: Leaders are readers, so
if you’re going to create leaders within the team, they should consistently
read. We’re always sharing articles and books among our team. It keeps us on
top of recent trends and helps stimulate strategic thoughts.
11. Invest in Your First Five
Hires: The more time you invest in training your first five hires, the
less time you have to spend training the ones who join the company later. Make
it a point to set aside time with each member to support him or her so everyone
is prepared to show that same support to new employees as your company grows.
12. Give Recognition: Recognize
people when they do something extraordinary. It not only gives people a sense
of accomplishment, it inspires others to make efforts to go above and beyond
their normal duties as well. We give a Championship Belt to a team member each
week to recognize that person for doing something incredible. Even small
efforts can make your employees feel appreciated and inspire them to do even
more.
It takes time and
effort to put together a dream team, but using the above strategies, I’ve
managed to build an amazing group of employees I wouldn’t trade for anybody out
there.
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