Building A Great Team Equals Achieving Great Outcomes

Confidence leads to better decisions and more alternatives to problems. Teams have a higher chance of bringing a great solution to the table compared to what a mere solitary manager can create. Note decision one, you’re a part of the team therefore a part of the solution.

The third decision is to allow everyone to have their chance to lead within your team. You must create a legacy and have solid succession plans in place (even if it’s just to allow planned leave). Sometimes your team will nominate a leader, sometimes a leader will stand up. Regardless of the source you want every single team member to be capable of leading when the time is right. This means you must also ensure you monitor your teams personality traits and know when certain leaders-to-be need a little boost. Cultivate the next generation of leaders.

Decision four is implicit trust. Great teams work on trust. Trust from you and trust within each other.

Ensuring a culture of trust will ensure a culture of success. Trust also allows for flexibility and allows people to ask for help when they fall outside of either an individual or team comfort zone.

I believe the four decisions above will also ultimately retain your team. Trust and stability is the key to your success.

You’re Not The Only Team

Never forget, you work with more than just your own team. These rules should be used when working with third party providers as well.

When you create relationships and look towards others for solutions, remember these companies are often only as good as their team members. Make sure they have the appropriate culture to keep their key players and therefore keep your shared intellectual property at hand. There is often nothing more time consuming than constantly ‘on-boarding’ other people’s team members on a project.

It’s Never Plain Sailing

Key to any great overall team is people management. All leaders know this can often take a surprising amount of time so I have summarised some key items that I now play by when looking for new team members or assessing current ones.

i. Do not simply look for people that are clones. People that are diverse have diverse ideas.

ii. Hire people to work ‘with’. You want people that are eager to learn and eager to share information and solutions.

iii. Never be afraid to hire the young or the old. You want youthful enthusiasm and aged wisdom – “What kind of team would win a Trivia Night?”

iv. “Watch for the warning signs” – It’s never business Utopia, so trust your gut when you sense an issue

a. You should never have to tell someone what to do over and over

b. “Faking it until they make it” is not a strategy

c. Question yourself when reviewing poor performance - “Does a leopard actually ever change its spots?”

I believe behind every great success is a great team and I encourage you to build your own highly successful team and always remember - You don’t have to be the smartest person in the room, but you definitely want that person on your team.