Action Man

Team: Step 4 to Build A Better Business

by Richard Norris - Action International

Over a series of 4 articles we are spelling out for Perthshire Business Owners the initial 4 Steps to help them to build a better business. In order these steps are -Mastery, Niche, Leverage, and Team. It is highly probable that your business is at one or several of these steps at the moment.

Does your business operate like a winning team? Is your team bringing in the results that you expect? Or, do your employees’ looks out for their own self-interest?

Well here’s a thought…you get the people you deserve.

Most business owners would like to get more leverage through their employees. Having the employees operate like a winning team will allow more productive output and lead to increased revenue and profits. The team concept is vital to making the business as successful as it should be. Teams have superstars and players in the trenches yet all play a vital part in the organization.

So how do we do this? First of all, look at WHO you are BEing as the leader. Are you passionate about your business, your customers and your team? How do you demonstrate that each day? Do you inspire and enrol your team? Do you celebrate and recognise achievements?

To help you become a better leader there are 6 keys to developing a winning team.

• The first key is to have strong leadership. 
  The leadership comes from the owner and is passed down through the management team and onto the frontline workers. Is your leadership hierarchy clearly defined? What are the traits of a strong leader? Ask your team and see what they say. Are you exemplifying these traits?
• The second key to a winning team is to have a common goal. 
  Why do you operate the business? What is your mission? As an owner you must have a clear idea of why you are in business. Make sure each team member is on board with what your goals are for the business that ensure you committee that goal and mission to each and every team member and continue to reinforce it.
• The third key to a winning team is that they know the rules of the game. 
  The rules for the business would be defined by the culture. Sometimes culture is written and followed sometimes it is understood. Your team operates under certain assumptions about the business. The best way is to write down a culture statement and make sure the team knows it. 
• The fourth key is to have 100% inclusion of all team members. 
  Each member is important and all should have input to maximize their job performance. The business wins together but the business can also lose together if not everyone is involved. Is your team 100% involved? Remember that T.E.A.M stands for Together Everyone Achieves More. 
• The fifth key is to support risk taking.
  The best business owners rely on others judgment to make the best decisions. If the owner only wants his or her ideas then they are being short-sighted. Getting input is important and game planning with others will overcome obstacles faced by the business. Sometimes risk and quick decisions about the business need to be made. Which opportunities have you missed because of poor decisions and failure to take risk? 

• The last key to a winning team is to have an Action plan. 
  Where is your business going? Do you have clear defined goals and a way to meet those goals? As the saying goes, “failing to plan is planning to fail!” If we were going to drive from North Carolina to California, we would need to have a map and figure out what direction to go. As opposed to just getting in the car and driving, we may end up in Canada. In both cases we drove correctly and did our best but having a roadmap allows us to reach our goal.