Every entrepreneur needs to develop the right team around them in order to maximise the success of the business. You need smart people that are talented in areas where you have weaknesses. For example, if you dont like working with figures, then you need a reliable team member to operate your financial management. By working to your strengths and allowing your other team members to do the same, you are likely to be more effective. Take stock of your strengths and preferred areas of working and delegate the rest. Decide which areas you want to operate in and which ones you want to delegate. This can include delegation internally to staff members as well as passing on tasks to other businesses, which can be used for outsourcing specialist functions. Here is a list of key business tasks: - Business Planning
- Financial Management
- Sales & Marketing
- HR/People Management
- Risk Management
- Systems & procedures
As an entrepreneur you need to share your business vision with your team in a way that inspires them and ensures they understand the strategic direction of the business. This includes sharing business plans and key objectives for the short, medium and longer term. A team or just a group of people A team is not just a group of people. A true team is energised towards common objectives with everyone focussed on common goals. They share similar values, ethics and buy in to a business culture that helps them to grow and develop their skills in a supportive environment. True teams have agreed standards of performance and are equally committed to standards of quality. There are many significant benefits to your organisation of having a committed team working with you, rather than a disparate group of people working in opposing directions. Overall this provides greater organisational efficiency, improved productivity, less staff conflict, reduced absenteeism and a better motivated and happier workforce. For the individual team members there are also significant advantages. These include being able to apply their talents, an enhanced sense of worth and greater job satisfaction. How to recruit team members Make sure you correctly define the role you are seeking. List the key responsibilities and write a role profile that lists chief tasks of the role. Then complete a personal specification of attitudes, knowledge and skills you require. These can be in two areas covering both essential and desirable qualities. If you are recruiting from outside your organisation then the most popular method is advertising in the local press (93% of recruits, according to an IRS survey). The design of your advertisement is important for attracting the right candidates. Seeking professional help is recommended. If you are using external recruitment agencies, make sure they are fully briefed. As part of the selection process you will want to have defined selection criteria to evaluate likely candidates. Filtering using CVs and initial telephone interviews can help to refine your list of key candidates for interview. Make sure you take account of essential skills, education, relevant experience and previous performance in a similar role. There are a number of tests that you can use to help. These include intelligence, psychometric, aptitude, numeric, verbal reasoning and situational tests. Once appointed, make sure you provide a comprehensive induction process to prepare new employees as effectively and as soon as possible. Up to 42% of new recruits leave within 12 months (According to analysis conducted by Gregg and Wadsworth). Much of this is due to inadequate recruitment and induction processes. In summary, you want to build and maintain teams that are motivated to work together towards common objectives and achieve greater success for the benefit of everyone. It therefore makes perfect commercial sense to invest in effective processes to ensure this happens. Let us know if you would like any assistance with the recruitment or development of your teams. Free information is available. Brian James |
