Building your dream team as a business owner or leader is essential for the success and growth of your organisation. Your people are the lifeblood of your business and without high performing people around you your business will struggle. The likelihood is you’ll find it hard to win business, hard to deliver the kind of service your customers expect, meaning your bottom line will undoubtedly be affected.
Here are some key steps to help you build the best team possible:
1. Define what you’re all about:
Start by clearly defining your company’s mission; what is the big reason you’re all doing what you’re doing? What’s your purpose as a business? Next define your core values and the kind of behaviours you expect your people to demonstrate to truly live those values. Your dream team should share your passion and be aligned with your organisation’s long-term goals, but as a leader, it’s your job to ensure your people understand these and everyone (including top tiers of leadership), lives up to them.
2. Identify your needs:
Analyse your business’s current and future needs. What skills, experiences, and personalities are needed to achieve your company’s objectives? Create an organisation chat that covers off all the things that need to be done in the business to achieve your objectives; where does this leave you in terms of gaps? That then needs to be your focus for building your dream team – not just through recruitment, but also through developing the people you already have, if they have the potential and the all important desire to fulfil the role you have in mind.
3. Recruit strategically:
When recruiting team members, look for candidates who not only have the necessary skills but also align with your company’s culture and values. Go back to point one; does the candidate in front of you demonstrate that they’d be a good fit with these? Leverage multiple channels like job boards, referrals, and professional networks to find the right talent, but don’t simply put a bum in a seat, it absolutely won’t work out and you’ll be back to recruiting the role again in no-time, with several thousands of pounds wasted on a bad hire.
4. Be thorough at interview:
During the interview process, ask questions that go beyond technical skills. Assess candidates’ problem-solving abilities, teamwork, adaptability, and cultural fit. Crucially, always meet candidates at least twice, and involve other members of the team in the process to ensure a complete cultural fit.
5. Invest in training and development:
Once you’ve assembled your team, invest in their professional growth and development. Provide opportunities for training, coaching, and skill-building to help them continuously improve and stay motivated; this will not only ensure you have an agile team, but also one who is engaged with the company’s mission.
6. Communicate, communicate, communicate:
You can never communicate too much. Encourage open and honest communication within your team that goes 2-ways. Ensure that everyone feels comfortable sharing ideas, concerns, and feedback. Effective communication is essential for collaboration and problem-solving, and only once you have a team who can be honest with their colleagues, will you have a high performing one. In addition, set clear expectations for your team through performance goals and deadlines, then monitor their performance – and be brave and have difficult conversations when things aren’t going to plan.
7. Empower your team:
Give your team members the autonomy and authority to make decisions within their areas of responsibility. Trusting your team and empowering them can lead to higher engagement and better results, but don’t be in danger of abdicating responsibility – check back on progress, be there to support and stay involved to ensure success.
8. Promote diversity and be inclusive
A diverse team will bring different perspectives and ideas, which can lead to better decision-making and innovation. Plus, life is pretty boring if we all think, look and sound the same. Ensure your team is inclusive and respectful of all members’ backgrounds and experiences and focus on making sure this starts at the very top of the organisation and filters through every element.
9. Reward and recognise success:
Recognise and reward your team’s hard work and achievements. This can be in the form of financial incentives, promotions, team events, or even simple expressions of appreciation. Acknowledging people’s contributions boosts morale and motivation – plus, it’s nice to be nice!
10. Adapt and evolve:
The business landscape is constantly changing. Be ready to adapt your team’s structure and goals as needed to stay competitive and relevant; the pandemic showed the need for businesses to be agile and those that thrived were the ones who were used to change and pivoted quickly.
So there you have it, 10 steps to building your dream team.
Now I’m not saying this process is easy, it takes time and consistent focus, but that is what being a leader is all about.
At The HR Consultants we work with businesses to create a place that their people love to work; through both our retained and people-project solutions, we partner with leaders to identify the specific areas of focus needed to get their dream team motoring for success. If you’d like a no obligation chat to see how our team of friendly consultants can help you and your people, get in touch today.