How Building A Successful Team will help your Business Grow

We are often drawn to people that are similar to us – that have the same personality, the same strengths, and the same view of life. This is great in friendship, but what about business?

When we are hiring people for a team, our natural instinct is to hire for personality. This isn’t necessarily bad, but it can be. If we are holding a mirror up and looking for people that mirror ourselves, we end up making decisions based on comfort and based on what we already know and live to be. If we hire based on this, we are simply creating a team full of versions of ourselves. How are we meant to progress?

The problem lies in the obstacles we face when meeting someone we don’t like or don’t necessarily connect with. We see things we don’t have them within them or qualities that challenge us in ways that may feel uncomfortable. We think if we hire based on our likes and dislikes that we’ll create a more enjoyable team, but is it worth sacrificing this for a lack of success? And who said we can’t create an enjoyable team out of complimentary differences?

How to Build a Team

The first step to building a team is to first travel inwards and recognise who we are. We should ask ourselves these key questions:

• What is our personality like?
• What are our strengths?
• Are we a big picture player, or do we like detail?
• Do we like to take the lead and inspire, or work independently on analysis and reports?

It is natural for us to believe we can do everything, and that we are great at everything, but this is rarely the case. Although we are a mixture of these different skills, we all have a preference – what comes most naturally to us. This is what we need to focus on most – what it is that naturally motivates us and drives us forward. 

Although we can recruit based on different personality preferences, we can recruit for values too, which can be housed by anyone regardless of personality. This means we can create a team that has the same inner motive and vision, whilst each person also brings a different way of thinking and implementing to the table.

Try This Exercise

Do it. Ditch it. Delegate it.

Do it – First, try everything. Figure out, within your business, what you truly love, and what gets you up in the morning. This stuff, you will do as much of as you can. 

Ditch it – Are there any tasks you dislike but aren’t actually benefitting your results? Perhaps they are tasks you think you should be doing but aren’t having an impact. Let this stuff go. Ditch it.

Delegate it – What tasks do you dislike but still need to be done? This could be social media scheduling or invoices. If it isn’t your strength, delegate it.

At the end of this exercise, if you’ve done it correctly, you should now be doing more tasks that you love than dislike! Handing over your weaknesses to someone else’s strengths can benefit your business in a way you could never have done by yourself. 

In summary, building a team is all about understanding your own strengths, as well as others. It is about ignoring the desire to look in the mirror and instead look for and value differences.

Another way of identifying a new team member is using DISC to profile potential members. I am a qualified DISC trainer, doing a DISC evaluation of potential employees can help to see if you and a potential team member will be compatible. DISC is a non-judgmental tool used for discussion of people's behavioural differences. You can find out more here. I also do regular training for people who want to become a DISC practitioner, my next training is in September https://ruthkudzicoaching.lpages.co/disc-day-online-september-25th-2020/

Do your potential team member’s strengths compliment your own, will you be able to communicate well together? Make sure you recruit wisely with personality preferences in mind, and that everyone is in the right role for them. Only then, can you achieve your highest success.