Built to Last: Creating and Retaining High Performance Teams

As someone who is now working in a key position within Elite, you would be forgiven for thinking that I started my career with a specific destination in mind and a plan of how I was going to get there. However, the truth is, I was given an opportunity by Elite and, from there, I progressed through the business to become Chief Revenue Officer. This was achieved through the business investing in me and inspirational mentorship from some of its key people. As a business, retaining high-performing staff has allowed Elite to build a strong team that is capable of pushing the company to the next level. Using my career journey as an example, I’ll explain how investing time, effort and money in your people and encouraging them to invest in themselves can help you to create and retain a high-performance team.

Opportunity Knocks

I’ll admit, I’ve never really been one of those people who has their future mapped out and knows where they are going to be in five, ten or twenty years’ time. Instead, I forged my path based on what interested me, kept me engaged and encouraged me to apply myself wholeheartedly. I graduated with a degree in Psychology and a master’s in Sport Psychology. Then the time came to step into the world of work and, as many graduates know, it isn’t easy landing that first job. I had developed a friendship with Matt Newing, founder of Elite (which was still a start-up company at this point), through our shared interests of going to the gym and playing golf. He noticed that I had the ‘gift of the gab’ (known professionally as good communication skills) and offered me a temporary role in telemarketing whilst I looked for other career opportunities.

 At the time, I didn’t really have any big plans for my future with Elite, but little did I know that this ‘temporary role’ would lead to the career path that has brought me to where I am today. When I first started working for the company, I was impressed. It was filled with driven and relatively young people and had an exciting, motivational vibe. As well as enjoying the work, it was the spirit of the team which, ultimately, made me feel that I wanted to be a part of the Elite journey.

Elite were (and still are) keen to provide people with opportunities and, after a little while of working for the company, Matt offered me a permanent role as a salesperson. Remember how I said I tend to focus my journey on the things that I’m interested in? Without saying anything, I think I gave off the vibe that sales was not the route I wanted to go down (quite ironic, given the role I am in today), as Matt instantly sensed I wasn’t keen and withdrew the offer. That could have been the end of the line with Elite, but one of Matt’s guiding principles is providing career opportunities for people with potential and he took it upon himself to find a role that would make good use of my skills. That role was, essentially, an informal apprenticeship scheme, which provided me with experience in all of the departments within Elite. It was this knowledge and experience that would form the foundation on which I would build my career.

Working Through the Ranks

I started the ‘Elite Unofficial Apprenticeship Scheme’ within the finance department, which provided a sound knowledge of management accounts and credit control. As soon as I understood the main principles and duties of the role and was capable of bringing value to the department, I would move on to another. From there, I moved through the Provisioning, Customer Service, Billing, Marketing and HR departments, picking up valuable business knowledge, practical skills and learning how the company works.

After I had completed, my ‘training period’ it was time to ‘cut my teeth’ and use everything I had learned. Matt decided to take me out of Elite and place me in one of his other businesses, Churchill Security. At the time, Churchill was going through a period of financial hardship and it was my job to step in, run the business and improve the situation. It was here that I really mastered the art of sales and marketing, as well as learning about the challenges associated with recruiting people and building an effective management team.

When the company really began to pick up speed and move forward, I was moved back to Elite, to replicate the success that I had achieved with Churchill Security. As time went on, opportunities opened up which allowed me to lead Elite’s sales department, as a Director of Sales and Marketing. From there, the role expanded, and I became Chief Revenue Officer of Elite Group, where I am responsible for sales, marketing and customer experience.

Personally, progressing through the company to where I am today has provided many benefits, which go beyond just financial security. As the business has grown and developed, the challenges and opportunities have expanded, which means every working day is varied. To wake up every morning knowing that today is going to be different to yesterday keeps me engaged and I can genuinely say that I love what I do.

Promoting from within

There are so many benefits for having people who have worked their way through the company into topflight positions, for both the business and the individual. Firstly, having stayed with the company for so long, their loyalty means they are focused and committed to the goals and aspirations of the business. They will be the cultural architects for the business, ensuring that teams and departments uphold company values, treat each other with respect and fulfil the company’s ethos. The values and culture of the Elite, encourages us to work together, provide opportunities for progression and appreciate each other.

Most importantly, they will have a good understanding of how the company works, its team and common pitfalls that can affect business, which is vital for leadership. The sheer amount of exposure I had to the company, its operations and its people, fuelled my personal and professional development. Furthermore, having completed a lot of different tasks in different departments across the company, means when it comes to leading a team, they know I would never ask something of them that I either haven’t done or wouldn’t be prepared to do myself. 

The Power of People

Without a doubt, the people who I have met along my journey played a major role in my progression. Matt Newing, founder of Elite Group, is a ‘master-motivator’ who is great at getting the most out of people and keeping them engaged and focused on a common goal. To be mentored by such a talented individual in the first few years of my career was absolutely invaluable. Secondly, Rob Sims, Elite Group’s CEO, has been another inspirational person during my career who has provided crucial advice and mentorship during my time with Elite.

During my first few years with the company, I had a second job as an Assistant Coach and Sport Psychologist at the professional rugby league club, Wigan Warriors, where I was lucky enough to work alongside Shaun Wane - the Head Coach at the time. He taught me about the importance of being humble and always being straight with people in order to get the most out of them – advice which has been very useful when the time came to step into a leadership role in my career. Again, he is another excellent motivator and I learned so much about people management, leadership and motivating a team during my time working with him. We learn and grow from our experiences with inspirational and motivational people, so having ‘master-motivators’ and effective mentors within your management team are a great asset for employee progression and retention.

I believe it is important to surround yourself with people who are more talented than you. Analysing your weaknesses and finding people who you can trust to fill in those gaps, is important for strengthening your team and also provides opportunities for you to learn from them to improve yourself and your knowledge. This is completely dependent on self-awareness and humility, two characteristics that I believe are fundamental to personal and professional development. Each person within your team is an individual with different skills and experiences and it is important to value that individuality. The skills, insight and information they possess may hold the key to the success of a project, department or the company as a whole. On a personal level, money and success is great, but the experiences you share with people in your team and the memories you make together is what you ultimately take with you. Having a company culture that focuses on supporting one another and appreciating each other’s abilities, is another important factor for retaining talent within your company.

Self-Motivation Fuels Progression

In my opinion, inspiring your team to be the best they can be is a key component of effective management. To get anywhere or master anything in life, you have to have self-motivation. As part of my degree, I researched and studied high-performance teams and people to discover what routines and habits they developed for success. Nowadays, I still learn from high performers through reading books and listening to podcasts about high-performance and successful people, as well as keeping my eye on the business section in the Sunday Times. By studying successful people and teams, I pick up clues that lead to better habits, routines and disciplines to facilitate my performance. Taking charge of your own development, as a leader, can help you to get the most out of your team.

If you want to progress in your career, my best advice would be to lean into the things that you enjoy and that interest you most, as this will keep you engaged in the work that you do, to the extent that on occasions it may feel more like a hobby than it does work. If you want to take your career to a higher level, my advice would be to obsess about how to bring more value and the specific processes involved in performing at a higher level, rather than the potential outcome or reward. Be prepared to commit your personal time to acquiring the knowledge and the skills necessary to master the tasks and processes that make up your overall performance and bring value to the company. In my experience the rewards tend to take care of themselves! It is really important to focus on bringing more value than you are taking in payment. When you focus on the process of bettering yourself, rather than focussing on being rewarded with a promotion or pay rise, you’re going to achieve far more progression and success over time. It means working on yourself and your development and finding out how you can bring more value to what you do, the company you work for and the people you work with. That’s why I’ve made working on my own knowledge outside of the workplace a priority, so I can return the next day with skills and information that will allow me to add more value. The more value you bring, the more opportunities will be presented to you. If you’re in a leadership position, encourage your team to also follow this mindset and, obviously, appreciate the efforts your team makes, otherwise they could take this mindset elsewhere and not use it within your company!

Invest Today to Secure Talent Tomorrow

Long story short, if you invest in your people, you will see the rewards. When we think of ‘investing’ we tend to think of money and it is important to invest financially in your team, but there are other important investments you should be making to ensure employee satisfaction and retention. It goes without saying that the basics need to be covered. The well-known organisational psychologist Frederick Hertzberg referred to these as hygiene factors. Consider the duties and responsibilities of the roles within your team and ensure those people are being paid a fair wage. Provide a safe, inclusive and secure place of work and ensure employees have everything they need in order to be productive.

Effective leadership is another factor that businesses should invest time and effort in curating. What does effective leadership mean? In my opinion, leaders should aim to be at the front rather than the top. A leader is somebody who rolls their sleeves up, ready to collaborate and encourages their team to follow them with their skills, personality and knowledge, rather than ‘sitting at the top’ and simply dictating orders. Another key component to good leadership is remembering that your team members are people first and foremost, rather than just employees of your company. They will have individual needs, expectations and requirements. It is the job of a leader to work for the people rather than the people work for the leader. It can be a tricky balancing act of prioritising your team’s happiness and the practicalities of running a business, but it is important to consider how to achieve both.

Invest your time in asking and actively listening to what your team need and what improvements are required within the business. You could use surveys, employee interviews or round table discussions with your team to fulfil this. Most importantly, act upon this information wherever possible. We can’t make everybody happy all the time, but working on the assumption that happy, motivated staff is good for business, we should be aiming to make most people happy, most of the time. What reasonable and practical adjustments can you make to your business to facilitate employee engagement and satisfaction? Maybe it’s introducing flexible hours, so those who have children don’t have to worry about dropping them off or picking them up from school? Implementing remote or hybrid working, to allow access to more time spent with family or on personal interests. Offering more opportunities for training and progression. There isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution, so it is important to invest your time into discovering the needs of your team and investing in resources to fulfil those needs.

Finally, empower and invest trust in your team by providing real opportunities to add value to your business. My career progression started with an opportunity. From there, my hard work and value was recognised by my employer and rewarded with more opportunities to grow and develop, which encouraged me to stay and keep pushing. Seek out those who are adding value to your company and reward them accordingly.  

Leadership, Progress, Appreciation – The Ingredients for High-performance

In this competitive world, there are many opportunities for talented and self-motivated individuals who are looking to make their mark in business. Businesses need to support, nurture and challenge talented individuals to avoid their head being turned by another employer. In short, happy people don’t leave. Provide opportunities for progression, implement leadership that your people will want to follow and reward hard work, in order to build a high performance team who are focused on making themselves and the business the best that they can be.

About the Author

Adam Turton is the Chief Revenue Officer at Elite Group. Adam is one of the longest standing Board members at Elite Group with over 16 years' experience in the B2B Technology and Communications sector. After studying Psychology and completing a Masters in Sports Psychology, Adam worked in professional sport as a Coach, Mentor and Sports Psychologist before making the transition into the business world. He has a proven track record for motivating and leading high performance teams and has helped mentor and develop many people in the business who now hold key or senior positions. Adam is an active investor across a range of sectors, particularly within technology, media and telecommunications, including various public and privately-owned businesses. With a real passion for business, Adam also sits on the Board as a Director in other successful companies. Adam is available to comment on Business Strategy, Leadership and building High Performance Teams.