As the saying goes, if you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.
Building a winning team requires more than just recruiting talented individuals. It means assembling people who will develop a shared vision, demonstrate unwavering commitment, work cohesively, and maintain a winning attitude.
How do you guide your team to pursue and achieve your business objectives? In this article, we will share key strategies to do just that.
1. Articulate Your Vision, Clarify Your Strategy
As the leader, you must communicate your vision and strategy. This framework connects team members, defines roles and responsibilities, and brings out everyone’s best qualities.
Use your vision to differentiate your business and constantly remind your team what your business stands for, where it’s heading, and what opportunities await them.
Secure buy-in from your team and help them embrace your strategy. Outline the path for achieving your vision and establish clear milestones to mark progress.
Practical Tip: Create a one-page vision document that everyone can reference, and revisit it quarterly in team meetings to maintain alignment.
2. Embrace Diversity
When building your business, consider the required tasks and seek diverse talents with complementary strengths, skills, and capabilities.
A diverse workforce brings multiple perspectives and viewpoints that can be channelled productively to solve complex problems and drive innovation.
3. Keep Your Team Aligned
A diverse and talented team becomes ineffective if members aren’t aligned with your business goals. Remember no individual is as powerful as a unified team.
Foster collaboration rather than competition, and keep everyone focused on common objectives instead of personal agendas.
Practical Tip: Implement Objectives and Key Results to ensure individual goals support team objectives, which in turn drive business success.
4. Hold Regular Team Meetings
Schedule interactive meetings with key team members at least weekly. These gatherings, where meaningful decisions are made and real work is accomplished, build a sense of purpose and importance within the group.
They also create opportunities for collaboration, experience sharing, and constructive feedback on ongoing projects.
5. Recognise Excellence
Resist micromanaging your team. Set clear expectations, then trust your people to deliver. Create an environment where every member can thrive and feel appreciated for their contributions.
Acknowledge team members, both individually and collectively, for their efforts, drive, and successes. Share victories with the entire team and emphasise that their collective work drives your business forward.
Practical Tip: Create a recognition program that celebrates both high-profile wins and behind-the-scenes contributions that might otherwise go unnoticed.
6. Address Negativity Promptly
Some attitudes can become significant obstacles to team building. Cynicism is particularly dangerous. While you remain hopeful about your business prospects, negative team members can undermine morale and create doubt.
When you identify a persistent critic on your team, address the behaviour immediately and request a change in conduct. If improvement doesn’t follow, be prepared to remove them from the team to protect the collective spirit and momentum.
This article is extracted from The Small Business Handbook. Get a copy to get more practical insights about starting and running your business in Nigeria.
Action Steps
Building a truly winning team is not an easy task, but by implementing these strategies consistently, you’ll transform a collection of talented individuals into a cohesive, high-performing team ready to tackle challenges and drive your business forward.
Learn more about how you can optimise your business team and create a customised business plan, identifying opportunities, mitigating risks and outlining a roadmap for business success.
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