Creating a team

Early 2020 I took the challenge and moved from my position as Director - Business Process Management Europe at BDP International to a position as Regional Control Tower Manager at BridgeNet Solutions a full subsidiary?of BDP International

and people started to ask me "why are you moving from a "Director" role to a "Manager" role? The answer to that?question was easy for me, the role offered had to do with creating a new team, implementing a new solution for the company and for the client.

The team was created by selecting first the key players and how do you define a key player to handle a team that's not in your own office but working remote in Prague (in my case). Lucky for me, in my previous role the BDP Service Center in Prague was reporting into me, so I knew the people, the mentality and of course I had a short list and the hope the persons on that short list would like to take the opportunity?to move with me and take on the challenge we were given.?

I needed a "people" person for leading the team,?an "energizer" to spark the team and a wizard that could fulfill the build of reports, beside these three roles we needed coordinators and for this we choose a few person that were already working in Prague and the other half of the team we hired new persons without experience in this industry but we looked for the mindset and if they were fitting the dynamics of the group.

Creating a team is all about the dynamics, if you have a fixed process and structure in place the search is different again, but we started with just the leader, the energizer and the wizard and created a team around these individuals and now after two years we can say that we have a true team.

The Covid Pandemic, the quarantines, disasters like weather (flooding) and even now a war didn't stop the team to grow, didn't stop the team from developing one and other, but most important they took care of each other during all these "challenges" the world was giving them.?The one-on-one checks during quarantine, the assistance during emergencies when a house of a team member was flooded, the assistance during moves, the setup of a fundraiser for a good cause, the cleaning of the residential area around the office, the get to gather in the park due to the Covid restrictions, the cake baking, the simple birthday songs during calls and many more examples has proven that the challenge of creating a team was successful.?

What made this happen and to a success??Respect,?accept all cultures and genders,?listen, making decisions, allow people to make mistakes and learn from them, open door policy, lead by example, grow people, teach them, show them

Above are just a handful of words or statements but you must live by it, if you want to grow a team the team members should be the basis for growth, in this team we had several coordinators who are now acting in a completely different role with more responsibilities and exposure. Every new position is first being filled from within the team and then a new person is hired to start as a coordinator, this was they learn the company, the culture, and the work its selves and from that foundation we choose who fits what best in growing positions.?

The challenge ahead is to maintain these individuals or grown them into roles that may even be outside the team but still within the company and that's in my vision makes my role as a "manager" in creating and leading a team.

With a big thank you to: Marek, Anastasia, Lukas, Rik, Iveta, Vitaly, Alexandra, Dita, Tomas, Veronika, Veronica, Alibek, Denis, Hana