Leaders need the support of a great team to make their business thrive. Think of your business as a ship. You’re the captain and you steer your ship towards its destination.

No matter how good of a captain you are, you still need a crew to run the ship. You need skilled people to do a variety of tasks that range from special ones like taking care of the ship’s engine to doing menial jobs like cleaning the deck. Although your job as the “captain” is important, your ship won’t move without a great crew manning it with you. Everyone on the ship contributes to the ship’s ability to reach its destination.

The same is true in business. You need a great team to keep it running.

In this article, you’ll understand the real impact of a great team. You’ll also learn how to recruit and onboard the right people to do the right jobs. You’ll discover how to lead them so they’ll stay and work with you to grow the business.

The Impact of a Great Team on Your Business

To understand the impact of a great team in a business, you must define what it means first. Having a great team is not just about hiring skilled individuals. Nor is it about getting the most educated or experienced people in the industry.

It’s about gathering a select group of individuals who have the right skills to do the job, values that align with the company and temperament to work in harmony with the rest of the team.

Although your team is made up of different people from various backgrounds, they provide differing perspectives that reveal possible solutions to business problems. If your team is aligned with the company, it connects the team towards a common goal, allowing them to work efficiently and effectively. This leads to higher engagement and productivity in the business.

What happens if you don’t have the right team?

Here’s the reality about having a great team. Each member matters. A high-performing employee with a toxic personality is enough to negatively affect the rest of the team.

When that happens, friction will occur. Tensions will rise as people try to compete with each other instead of working together. With this negativity, business productivity is affected. Your business will suffer from low productivity or a subpar output.

Your team will struggle to hit their goals and every time they miss a target, the team morale will decline. They won’t feel motivated to do more, which can affect the business's success. It can affect how the team serves customers and clients.

As the leader, this will keep you busy supervising the team. You’ll hesitate to delegate because your team isn’t performing as expected. You’ll end up with no freedom because you’re spending more time supervising the team instead of leading them.

How to Recruit and Onboard a High-Performing Team

Creating a great team starts with the recruitment process. You need to develop an effective recruitment system that can set up new hires in the right place within the company.

When you create a job post, be very clear about the job description and expectations. You don’t have to be very detailed - but at least give applicants an idea of what skills are needed for the job. Apart from the skills, mention the type of character that the company is looking for. Mention company values like honesty, integrity, accountability, teamwork, diversity, etc.

Document the SOPs, company values and policies so recruits will know the type of culture in the business. This should be an important part of the onboarding process. Give the recruits the right expectations and their unique role in the business.

Focus on developing the following skills…

As you onboard people into the team, it’s important to focus on specific skills that will equip them to do with job correctly and in harmony with everyone else.

Among the skills you need to develop includes the following:

• Communication. Having a great team means everyone will feel safe sharing their opinions and ideas without judgment. This develops an inclusive culture built on respect - which is a great foundation for building relationships in the workplace. 

• Adaptability. With everyone working together, it’s easier to develop a high-performing team that can adapt to market demands. It’s also about teaching them flexibility so they can come up with innovative solutions to pressing business challenges.

• Collaboration. A great team is not just focused on individual tasks. They are concerned about the success of the team as a whole. They are selflessly helping each other because they know that each person’s success collectively brings the business to greater heights.

• Proactive mindset. Train the team to demonstrate accountability. They should have a mindset that takes ownership of their work and has the initiative to go beyond what is expected of them.

• Cultural fit. Make everyone feel valued in the team. If someone knows how they fit in the process, they’ll have a better appreciation of the role they play and how they contribute to the overall success of the business.

If you can ease recruits into their place within the team, they’ll know how to perform in such a way that benefits everyone else. They’ll learn to love what they do and in return, you’ll get the freedom to be a leader - not a supervisor.

You’ll also get the freedom to take time away from the business because you know that your team is capable of handling it while you’re gone.

6 Tips to Make a Great Team Stay

Now that you know how to create a great team, it’s time to figure out how to make them stay.

Statistics reveal that the top reasons workers decide to quit include low pay (63%), lack of opportunities to improve (63%) and disrespect at work (57%). The low pay is expected but as you can see, people put value in the culture at work.

This is why as a leader, you need to cultivate your team and provide them with resources to help them grow and develop. The more they improve, the better output they can contribute to the business.

Here are 6 tips to make a great team stay longer.

Be a strong leader

If you want to have a great team that stays, you need to step up your leadership skills first.

Leadership strength is not about being an authoritarian. It’s about the influence and impact you have in the work life of your team.

A leader’s job is to create the right environment to allow a great team to flourish. It’s also your job to motivate them and make them feel confident in their work.

You need to communicate with them to encourage and bring out their strength. The more you nurture them, the better they’ll perform.

Offer a competitive compensation package

Compensation is still a major part of a team’s performance. You have to be fair when it comes to their compensation package. Give them their just reward based on what they contribute to the business.

Remember, your team is your biggest investment. When they’re satisfied with their pay, they’re less likely to accept a counteroffer and move to another job. This will save you from the high cost of frequent employee turnovers.

Provide continuous opportunities for growth

Invest in training programs. Schedule team-building seminars. Fund the growth of your team so they’ll develop the skills that can increase their contribution to the business.

The more you give your team room to grow, the more they’ll feel gratitude and loyalty. As long as they know you’re there to take care of them, they’ll reciprocate by making sure the business is flourishing.

Create an inclusive work environment

Encourage an inclusive work environment in your team. Each person has to feel seen, heard and valued. People should be trained to openly communicate and receive feedback without feeling judged.

Your goal is to make everyone feel respected. This will motivate them to excel and exert effort to build positive relationships among other team members.

Celebrate achievements

A New York study revealed that positive reinforcement works better in getting people to follow the rules as opposed to the use of punishment. The same psychology can be applied to keep your team happy. When you celebrate achievements, it triggers a positive reaction in the brain - leading to a motivated individual.

So if you want to make your team happy, content and high-performing, celebrate their wins. Although rewards are expected, it’s more of the recognition that makes people happy. Not to mention that it can also build a culture of appreciation and gratitude in the workplace.

Promote work-life balance

Be an advocate of proper work-life balance to care for your team’s well-being. As long as the business model can support it, offer options like flexible hours or even remote work. Let your team clock out on time and try not to bother them after work hours.

These simple things will show your team that you respect them and it would make them feel more loyal.

It’s Time to Build a Winning Team in your Business

Creating and sustaining a winning team takes hard work. By prioritizing efficient recruitment, onboarding and retention strategies, you can build a high-performing team that’s driven towards innovation and success.

But more than that, it also requires you to step up. As the leader in the business, it’s up to you to set the right standards and provide the resources that’ll mould your team to become the best version of themselves. You need to be dedicated to continuous improvement so you can lead a great team.

As you strive to achieve this, the guidance of a business coach can prove to be useful. Having someone from the outside looking in can give valuable insights that can lead to strategic improvements within your team.

If you want to unlock the full potential of your team, consider partnering with a business coach. Use their expertise to overcome obstacles and free your team from internal struggles holding them back. A coach can help improve your leadership skills and your team’s performance.

Would you like to know more about building a great team?

Book a complimentary 15-minute call here: https://www.butleradvisory.com.au/time-with-trent.