Building and leading a team is key to success in any industry.
Creating a culture of recognition fosters motivation and engagement. Regularly acknowledging contributions, whether big or small, reinforces positive behavior and encourages others to strive for excellence. Celebrating milestones and achievements collectively can strengthen team bonds, making everyone feel valued and integral to the organization’s success.
In recruiting for a team you must have a target type employee. If you are looking for type A high production people usually the main motivation for them is a high salary and ability to make resources based on performance. Then conversely a reliable lower maintenance group that is going to stick around if the quality of life is good will require things like Paid time off and parental leave. Wages aren’t as important. Rarely do you find a high drama producer interested in quality of life benefits. But you have to decide what type of team you need. One that’s there for the long term need lots of institutional knowledge or an ever changing group of high achievers.
Picking team member’s isn’t always about checking boxes of skill sets. Many tasks can be taught and because an applicant has required job qualifications doesn’t always make the best team member. You can’t train for a good attitude. Red flag statements about how bad former employers can be an indicator of a poor attitude. Desire to start right away and not give current employer proper notice can also be a red flag statement.
Finding team members that bring different perspectives can require out of the box thinking and recruiting. It’s easy to say must have Bachelors degree. But have some other option with an “or” 5 years experience in X field can bring you team members you could not have reached before.
Training a team starts with your Mandated training to satisfy regulatory agencies such as OSHA. Doing this training at onboarding gets a training record started and keeps your company in compliance right from the start and then employees can continue with yearly training in the regular rotation. But you won’t have newer employees being out of compliance waiting for the rotation.
Training needs to be a cornerstone that is doesn’t end after the first 6 months of employment. Things like yearly “training week” or a monthly training day are crucial for engagement and employee development. Employees should feel like their development is important to Management.
Consistent treatment of all employees also helps to build a good team. Some employees being allowed to be tardy or have excessive unexcused absences while others are disciplined can ruin moral very quickly. Everyone needs to feel valued and that they are part of the team but also are held to the same standard to be part of a great team.
The attitude of customer service can be challenging in support organizations. Starting at the top the attitude of service must be expressed. If all your “customers” are other company employees they still need to be treated like the final public facing customers. Payroll, HR, vehicle maintenance, building maintenance etc. need to treat people like they are paying customers as this will help the entire organization run more effectively. Nothing is more frustrating to direct service employee than to be treated badly by internal support systems when their job requires superb customer service.
The best teams require everyone to feel as important to your organization’s success as anyone else. From the person sweeping the floor to the highest management position; everyone has a purpose and they are all important.
Recognizing teams members can come at anytime. Letters of recognition for small things are as important as employee of the month awards. Recognizing the good things is as important as discipline procedures.
