Building Blocks of a Productive, Cohesive Team
Running a successful business is more than just about keeping your books in check and maintaining a steady cash flow.
It is about building a team with characteristics that complement each other and, more importantly, a team that strives towards a single goal.
You know one of those moments when you are driving to work and a familiar tune comes on the radio? You start singing and humming along. What you don’t consider is that the tune was made with the help of a number of people. It is a sequence of notes put together collectively. Every team member is playing his or her own unique instrument.
Operating a business is quite similar. Every member has a unique talent to add to the whole. Every one of them is valuable in their own way. But how do you really create a harmonious team?
There are three primary building blocks of successful, productive teams—read on:
Trust Is the Foundation for All Growth
A team needs to be able to trust every member within it. Even though trust doesn’t come overnight and cannot be forced, it can certainly be encouraged. Organizing team meetings is the perfect way to start off trust building exercises. Each member should be given the chance to express their ideas and be heard.
It is acceptable to have conflicts. In fact, conflicts are healthy. Communication is what truly helps everyone overcome conflicts and arrive at solutions that parallel organizational goals.
Boost Collaboration
Sharing ideas is definitely collaboration, but real collaboration begins when each person brings unique ideas to the table to eventually produce an outcome that is better in every way.
For example, an advisory firm looking to provide a client with better financial solutions would have taxation, protection and investment specialists in every team. Each member would review a client’s current assets and goals to provide a solution.
Each of their approaches would be different and would bring new recommendations to the table. In the end, considering each recommendation brought in, all of them can mutually agree on unified plan of action to give to the client—this is collaboration.
Organization Is the Key
A team requires a playbook or an agreement that specifies the responsibilities, roles and approaches to settling disputes. Having a few rules of engagement can enhance transparency in collaboration while keeping everything organized. This eventually builds trust between members.
With these three key building blocks of successful teams, you can lay a foundation for business operations where all employees are in line with your organizational goals. Need more help? Hire a motivational speaker like Steve Rizzo to host a team building session.