‘Few things can help an individual more than to place responsibility on him, and to let him know that you trust him.’ – Booker T. Washington
Great leaders know that significant accomplishments require exceptional teams. In business, we often talk about the importance of teams but don’t always take the time necessary to truly plan our effective team.
The six steps to building a world-class team are:
- Focus on building the team before you need to accomplish the big task. By getting the right team in place before the main task is executed, teammates will feel that they are part of the bigger picture and be more committed.
- Build a superior branded company so that the best people come to you, rather than you going to find them. This saves time, money, and they tend to bring their top colleagues with them.
- Build a team with the right people and skill sets that complement one another, and are necessary to achieve the task. Avoid hiring people that are just like you or share your personality traits. Hire for the skills and traits necessary to achieve the critical task.
- Build a team that truly supports and trusts one another, so it’s not a group of individuals but is a team with a common purpose. This process takes some time, because it requires the formation of the team, a period of time for them to get to know one another, for that knowing to turn into trust and ultimately, for that trust to turn into action.
- Assure that each person on the team knows their role and responsibilities, and know they will be held accountable for the execution of that role. Like a sports team each person plays a particular role. They are supported by one another, but at the end of the day, each person has a position. As a leader it is your responsibility to assure those roles and responsibility are clearly defined, articulated, agreed to, measured and appropriately resourced over time.
- A team needs to be rewarded for their actions. No one will work at a top level without some measure of reward financial compensation, and a sense of a job well done. Because most of us are focused on doing something important something with purpose, so your reward should be consistent with a purpose for the team.
Eamonn has a B. Eng. (Electrical) from Lakehead University, MBA (Finance) from University of Toronto, and has completed Executive Education at Stanford University Graduate School of Business. He lives in Vancouver, Canada. Follow him on twitter @EamonnPercy
