How To Build a Successful Team

How To Build a Successful Team

How To Build a Successful Team

How To Build a Successful Team

How To Build a Successful Team

How To Build a Successful Team cover

How To Build a Successful Team


With every business, you will need to develop a team of individuals who can help propel your growth and have your business become a dominating force within your industry.

As leaders we all aspire to build high-performing and successful teams.

Having employees we can trust to execute on projects takes the weight off our shoulders and enables us to achieve outcomes that bring us closer to our company vision.

Every great manager continually searches for and tests how to build a successful team.

WarningNevertheless, building a successful team is about more than finding a group of people with the right mix of professional skills.

It takes great leadership to build successful teams.

Leaders who are not afraid to course correct, make the difficult decisions and establish standards of performance that are constantly  being met – and improving at all times.

A competitive workplace shouldn’t feel like a real-life Hunger Games.

ImportantA powerful and successful company operates best and with the most longevity when employees work with a team mentality, each filling a needed role and fulfilling long-term goals.

Building a team is not like performing a brain surgery either.

If you are willing to adapt to the changes and invest your time and effort into your team, building a solid team is not particularly difficult.

Here’s what you can do to make sure your team is as strong and successful as it can possibly be for your company. Let’s explore the five key ways you can make your team a successful one.

Solve The Jigsaw Puzzle

When you lead a team, the success that is produced is never due to just your actions. Your team played a part in generating that success by being effective at the position they operate within.

This is why you must recognize and praise your team for the work that they do.

You would want to build up the confidence of your team and not tear them down. A mistake is not an excuse to berate them and make them feel small.

Become the motivational source that your team uses to achieve and exceed their goals.

ImportantEach team member should feel like their job matters, without ever asking themselves, “Why am I even here?” It’s no secret that a sense of purpose helps each employee’s performance.

Investing your time and money in people who truly specialize in the role your company needs will have immense payoffs later.

A thorough selection process for picking your team members has greater long-term benefits, even if this means you spend more time recruiting than you’d like to. Hiring someone just to have bodies in the room can harm your team.

Teams tend to work best when each member is responsible for contributing something specific.

When team members have well-defined roles, they can focus on accomplishing individual tasks and following specific workflows rather than devoting energy to identifying their place.

The most effective teams embrace different skill sets, experience levels and professional backgrounds.

WarningYou should include members who have dissimilar opinions and encourage different ways of thinking. By welcoming members with diverse views, your team may consider different approaches or goals.

Think of your team as puzzle pieces that can be placed together in a variety of ways.

ImportantFully knowing your team means that you have invested the time to understand how they are wired to think and what is required to motivate them to excel beyond what is expected from them.

All great leaders know exactly what buttons to push and when to push them. They are experts at activating the talent that surrounds them.

What’s important is to catch problems at an early stage and address conflict and bad behaviour before it spirals out of control or becomes entrenched in the team’s culture. 

A team should operate as a mosaic whose unique strengths and differences convert into a powerful united force.

Set SMART Goals

Leaders owe their teams an answer to the same question that young children often ask before setting out on a long drive: “Where are we going and how are we going to get there?” In other words, what is the goal and how are we going to measure progress along the way?

The trouble often starts when leaders start listing many priorities. If you have more than three priorities, you don’t have any.

Determining these priorities and how they’re going to be measured is arguably the most important job of a team leader because most of the work that everybody does will flow from those goals.

Your team can prioritize SMART goals by choosing objectives that are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time-based.

After implementing these objectives, track progress regularly. Since every member shares the same team-specific metrics, your team can monitor advancement and celebrate accomplishments.

Setting short and long-term goals with your team also becomes the foundation for every task they set out to complete each day. 

ImportantBeing enthusiastic about the outcome and motivating each other with positive reinforcement will help your team members to make sure that they work with a sense of the big picture, knowing why every task they do is necessary for achieving a longer-term goal.

It’s important to note that these goals should be realistic so that you and your team don’t feel like you are working for a lost cause.

Having milestones and deadlines can give team members opportunities to help each other out and band together for success.

The phrase “nature abhors a vacuum” is a bit of a cliché, but it’s true. Set ground rules, and let your expectations be known from the start.

New team members tend to arrive as relatively blank slates—open to an array of company cultures—but they will quickly start seeking cues for how to operate as a member of your company. Take advantage of this.

A compelling purpose is one of the critical success factors for any company looking to build a high-performance team.

WarningIt is a leader’s role to create and communicate a compelling vision and set of values for an organisation, inspire others to buy into the vision and ultimately lead their team by example.

Over-communicate

It is unreasonable to expect your team to be able to read your mind. Lack of communication can create a great deal of frustration and resentment.

Be clear and direct with your team so that they know exactly what is expected of them.

ImportantClear communication allows your team to know what direction to take so that they produce the results that are needed. This helps to ensure the success of your team, rather than have them operate in a confused state.

To work together seamlessly, teams need clear lines of communication.

To streamline communication, your team should clarify each member’s roles and responsibilities. This will show who is in charge of what and what to do when an issue arises or a problem needs to be solved.

Feedback is simply the art of great communication.

WarningFeedback is the key to assuring any team is staying on track, but more importantly that it is improving each day. Feedback should be proactive and constant. Many leaders are prone to wait until a problem occurs before they give feedback.

No cookie-cutter approach is allowed.

Take the time to remind someone of how and what they can be doing better. Learn from them. Don’t complicate the process of constructive feedback.

The best way to demonstrate value between team members is through communication.

ImportantKeep a level of transparency whenever possible with all team members, even if the information doesn’t directly pertain to every person on your team.

Your team should also give each member a voice.

When every team member takes the time to form an opinion, they’re attached to the outcome and want to know that their thoughts are considered in the process. Allowing this gives people a feeling of ownership over their work, leading to better performance.

Communicate thoroughly, and do not involve your ego or sense of superiority any time you are having a work-related conversation.

Nurture The Culture

Despite differences, the most successful teams share a common culture, such as company or group culture. Your team might create and agree on these shared behaviors unconsciously, as they are likely to reflect preferred working or communication styles.

Your team is likely to be more productive when it has guidelines to follow.

ImportantShared values start with a cohesive mission. You should establish a singular team mission by reflecting on the organization’s mission statement and the ways your team contributes to this overarching goal.

A “gift culture” refers to the mentoring and coaching that happens within an organization.

The “gifts” are the experiences and wisdom that are transferred between individuals in the firm. Informal mentoring creates a more authentic two-way dialogue between the mentor and the mentee, which promotes increased levels of learning and collaboration.

You should support and cultivate a strong sense of community.

WarningHave you ever been part of team in which you felt like an outsider? It can be frustrating, and it also makes it incredibly difficult to get anything meaningful accomplished.

When an organization cultivates a strong sense of community, individuals feel more comfortable reaching out to others, sharing knowledge, and helping to solve problems.

Positive reinforcement is a far more productive manner of motivating team performance than shaming those who screwed up.

ImportantGreat leaders also subscribe to the theory that “you get more flies with honey than vinegar.” Resist the urge the criticize team members’ mistakes. Encourage your team to bring more where that came from.

The micro-managing style of leadership literally suffocates the performance out of your team.

The only way your team can truly succeed is if you back off and let them work autonomously. Learn how to relieve complete control and allow your team to self-manage themselves.

Brighten Up Your Leadership

The appreciation that you show for your team is the motivation that can push them to be even greater under your leadership. Success is almost guaranteed when your team is happy about the leadership they operate under.

You can demonstrate effective leadership by being committed, accountable and responsible for your work.

ImportantTo be a strong leader, you should also cultivate adaptability, welcome feedback and motivate team members to do their best work.

Personal bias brings out feelings of rivalry and unwanted competition in the team.

It is a harsh reality that our attitude and behavior toward other people can be influenced as much by our instinctive feelings as by our rational thought processes. Keeping an open mind about others’ opinions also helps a great deal.

Make sure you’re not driving a narrative that supports negative behaviours within the business.

WarningMake sure you address past issues directly, and work through the steps needed to reach a conclusion and end the old narrative. The team then needs to rebuild a new narrative that reflects the culture they wish to work on.

A work team that persists through rough patches to get the job done is the type of group you want to work with.

ImportantA strong work ethic demonstrated by each individual ensures projects are done well and on time. Choose your employees wisely with respect to how willing they give their all to their job.

Establish your own method of arriving at a consensus.

Having positive discussions about the pros and cons of a proposal can help to eliminate any dissatisfaction. Consensus keeps democracy on the team alive and makes sure everyone is committed to the team’s cause.

Success is almost guaranteed when your team is happy about the leadership they operate under.

Final Thoughts

How To Build a Successful Team Final Thoughts
Teamwork is the ability to work together toward a common vision. The ability to direct individual accomplishments toward organizational objectives. It is the fuel that allows common people to attain uncommon results.Andrew Carnegie

Leaders are only as successful as their teams and the great ones know that with the right team dynamics, decisions and diverse personalities, everyone wins in the end.

Successful work teams are incredibly important in today’s small businesses.

WarningCertain qualities are necessary to have a high-performing group of employees dedicated to planning, working in tandem and completing the tasks necessary to move the company forward. 

A successful team leads to each member planning, thinking, problem solving, resolving issues and dedicating themselves fully.

Whether you’re starting our own business or a veteran CEO looking to brush up on the basics, understanding the ins and outs of people management, team building, and effective workplace communication can make all the difference between a successful business venture and an unsuccessful one.

Focus on building your successful A-team.

ImportantBuilding a successful A-team requires you to let go of the idea of “perfection” and instead focus on putting team members in the best position to succeed.

As the leader of the team, you must be extremely aware of your leadership style and techniques.

Evaluate yourself and be critical about where you can improve, especially in areas that will benefit those whom you are a leading.

Be your own boss. Be flexible. Know who you are as a leader. Build a successful team!

If you are in the early stages of developing your team, or are simply looking to increase collaboration, we hope you found these tips about successful teams helpful. Let me know how you have built your own successful team in the comments section below!

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3 years ago

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How To Build a Successful Team

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