Team work makes the dream work, or so the saying goes, but there’s a lot more to building a team than hiring a few talented individuals. A strong and united team is essential for the growth of your business, but powerful teams don’t happen by accident. It’s vital that you invest time and effort into building a team that can propel your business towards success. Here’s how to do it.
Value Your Team
First things first: the most important part of building a strong and successful team is valuing them. In fact, it’s the key principle that underpins the subsequent processes outlined in this article. In order to build a great team, you first have to value them and, more to the point, show them that they’re valued. Underappreciated team members quickly lose motivation and become passive and uninterested. Appreciating your team now lays the foundation for their future success and helps you to put the following steps into place.
Communication
It’s vital that you establish clear lines of communication with your team and ensure that they communicate well with each other. If you want your team to work as one, it’s important to ensure that all members know exactly what’s going on – no-one should be left in the dark. Moreover, regular communication and transparency shows team members that they are respected and valued, which is essential for maintaining staff morale.
Working remotely is no excuse for poor communication in this day and age. There are plenty of great team management platforms out there, such as Slack and Microsoft Teams, and you can host virtual meetings via Zoom.
Clear Roles and Responsibilities
It’s essential that you clearly outline the roles and responsibilities of each team member so that everyone knows exactly what they should (and shouldn’t) be doing. This allows your team to operate smoothly without treading on each other’s toes, and at the same time ensures that no tasks slip through the cracks. Your team functions at its best when everyone knows what to do.
Set Goals
A powerful team needs a purpose. Setting short, medium and long-term goals helps to motivate and mobilise your team. Each member should be able to appreciate the importance of their work and understand how they’re contributing towards the bigger picture. On top of this, clear goals provide a framework for decision making and effective action.
Decide Together
Even the most powerful of teams quickly lose motivation when they feel as though they’re being dictated to. Involving the whole team in the decision making process where possible makes them feel valued, competent and capable. Your team is much more likely to be passionate about a decision they had a hand in making, so listen to their opinions and consider their ideas. Not only does this help to motivate your team, it also helps to strengthen the bonds between them.
Get to Know Each Other
The phrase “team building” often elicits yawns and eye-rolls, but some out of office socialising allows team members to understand each other better and promotes trust and unity. Choosing fun team building activities can boost morale and help create a more positive office atmosphere, which is great for the health of your business.
The above point about joint decision making is especially pertinent when it comes to team building outings. Bounce ideas around with your team and find out what they’d like to do – especially if you’re asking them to give up their personal time. Dragging them along to do something unappealing won’t do much for morale.
Conclusion
Building a strong and successful team isn’t rocket science, but it does take work. Making a conscious effort to value and communicate with your team goes a long way towards setting them up for success. It’s well worth your time to ensure that everyone is clear on their specific goals and responsibilities, and encouraging your team to bond outside of work helps your company to run like a well-oiled machine.
