How to Build a Team that is Ready for Growth
Your team is your best asset. A good team can help you to grow, ensuring that you hit your targets and keep moving forward. On the flip side, if you have a few incompetent and unreliable employees, you’ll spend most of your time picking up after them.
So, whether you’re?building a digital agency?or an?Amazon business, follow these steps to ensure you have the best people behind you.
Hire Willing Employees
Most of the people I hire are freelancers. In fact, I have been hiring freelancers for many years now and I have worked with writers, developers, designers, editors, artists, and marketers of all shapes and sizes.
I want to work with the best. That goes without saying. But I also want people who are adaptable and reliable, and the same is true for in-house staff.
Think about the following two employees as an example:
Employee A has experience as a secretary and transcriber. They can answer phones, touch-type, and use Microsoft Office. But they are not familiar with video conferencing, refuse to deal with clients over email, and are unwilling to learn about marketing, SEO, and management software.
Employee B doesn’t have any work experience but they are adept at email and Microsoft Office, are a fast learner, and are willing to accept all jobs.
A traditional employer might opt for Employee A. After all, while their skills are limited, at least they have experience. As an online company preparing for rapid growth, you need to focus more on Employee B. Eventually, your company will outgrow the capabilities of Employee A, and when that happens, they will hold you back.
Plan Ahead (Sensibly)
As your business grows, you will be given opportunities that you’re not quite ready for. If you’re a retail business branching into wholesale, clients may ask for a white label service, even though you’re not the product manufacturer. If you’re a service-based business, they may ask for marketing and Google Ads, even though you’re a content agency.
Photo by?Estée Janssens?on?Unsplash
There are three options, and only one of them is the right option if you want to maximize your growth.
The first option is to turn them away. This is the worst thing that you can do.
It’s an opportunity to make money. You’re in the business of making money. Why would you reject it?
The second option is to outsource or work through affiliates. In such cases, you’re passing the work onto an expert and taking a small cut. It can work in the short term, but it means you’re often accepting all of the responsibility in return for a small cut of the profits.
The best option is to accept the job and give the client what they want.
If you’re an agency without the staff needed to do what they ask, hire them. If you’re a retailer without white label solutions, put together a small design team. With the prevalence of freelancing websites and instant-hires, it couldn’t be easier to pivot in this manner.
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Encourage Collaboration
It doesn’t matter how big your team is, if you want your business to grow, everyone needs to communicate and collaborate. They need to understand each other’s strengths and weaknesses and must work well together.
Photo by?Dylan Gillis?on?Unsplash
Just think about how much better you work with a business partner that you know and trust, and now imagine the same strengths being utilized across an entire team that has the same level of trust.
Collaboration needs to go much deeper than bi-annual team-building exercises and the occasional use of collaborative software. The team should be communicating on a regular basis and exchanging ideas, knowledge, and skills.
Promote Creativity and Create a Safe Environment
You’ve hired creative and willing employees, now you need to tap into that creativity.
Photo by?Dragos Gontariu?on?Unsplash
Sometimes, employees will shy from the spotlight if they don’t feel safe in their environment. They might worry that their opinions will be mocked or ignored, and so they will keep things to themselves.
Your workplace should be a relaxed, open, safe, and creative space where anyone can suggest anything. That’s how you get the best ideas from your employees.
Focus on Diversity
Hiring a diverse team may help to create stronger bonds and allow for more stable growth. The modern business world is vast and diverse, and a successful team needs to emulate that. It should be culturally and ethnically diverse while also encompassing employees with different professional backgrounds and skillsets.
Photo by?Memento Media?on?Unsplash
Reward and Incentivize
Incentivize your team to meet targets and reward them when they work well. Those rewards don’t need to be financial. You don’t need to keep throwing bonuses and promotions at them. Simply telling them they have done a good job should suffice.
Photo by?marius krm?on?Unsplash
It may not seem like much to you, but it can make a massive difference to an employee who is anxious to impress the boss and wants to know if they are doing the right thing or not.
If someone does a really good job and helps the business to grow, reward them with a promotion. Don’t simply rely on the old-school approach of promoting the people who have the most experience or the biggest ass-kissers. Promote based on hard work and merit.
Not only will that person dedicate themselves to your business, but you’ll also set an example for others to follow, showing them that they can climb right to the top providing they are willing to work for it.