"If you could get all the people in an organization rowing in the same direction, you could dominate any industry, in any market against any competition, at any time." – The Five Dysfunctions of a Team by Patrick Lencioni
The most important tasks that a team leader has are selecting the members of the team and ensuring that they perform well. In order to be able to do that effectively, it is critical that the leader sets and communicates the goals of the team to its members and then holds them accountable for results.
1. How does this work in a business environment?
The same way it works on a sports team. Aligning your people strategy with your business strategy is key. Knowing how to find the right people and get them to want to work for you –and stay – is the secret to competitive advantage and includes the following:
2. Building the Team (Hiring the right people)
Knowing what you want the individual to do before you begin your search and determining if they can do the job and fit within your culture is the formula for performance.
3. Leading the Team
Once you spend resources (time and money) hiring the right people, make sure that they have the training, development, tools, and resources they need in order to be as productive as possible as quickly as possible.
Retaining the Team:
- Employees want good bosses. Ensure that anyone who is responsible for managing others has been trained and is good at it. Resist the urge to promote people into positions where they are bosses if they are not good bosses. You will lose employees because people join organizations – they quit bosses.
- Employees want growth and career paths. If they cannot grow within your organization, they will leave in order to grow somewhere else. Do not spend resources training people only to lose them to another employer who will reap the advantages of your hard work.
- Employees want to be recognized for their accomplishments and contributions. Do not punish good performers by giving them more work or reward poor performers by taking work away, continuing to give them raises and bonuses and allowing them to stay with you. It is demotivating for your good performers. Employees want to be part of the team. They want their ideas taken into consideration. They want to feel valued.
Please join Deborah Defer and Donna Bernardi Paul as they present an interactive and thought-provoking session on this topic on Wednesday, June 7, 2017, at 1:30 p.m.
For more on building and leading a team, listen to Joe speak with Clayton Oates on the Scaling New Heights® Podcast, Episode 27.
You can find more details about each of the sessions in a downloadable document located here: Download Course Descriptions.
Reminder: As your ever-faithful Sherpas, we stand ready to guide and encourage you along your chosen path. If you would like to consult with us about your path, please email me at coliver@woodard.com or Liz at ecolley@woodard.com.
Be sure to tell us your goals and what you hope to learn so we can recommend appropriate learning paths for your upcoming "Scaling New Heights" experience in Orlando, Fla.
Deb Defer
Deborah A. Defer, BSO Managing Director, has more than 30 years of accounting experience. She focuses on QuickBooks administration, receivables/payables, payroll setup and processing, financial reports, and both corporate and individual tax returns.
Deborah primarily spends her time consulting with clients regarding QuickBooks matters. Training, system analysis, integration, and implementation of third-party applications for QuickBooks, and troubleshooting issues are areas of concentration.
She is an Advanced Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor®, Advanced QuickBooks Online Certified ProAdvisor®, Certified Enterprise QuickBooks ProAdvisor®, Expert Certification for Bill.com, T-Sheets Pro, and Certified in LivePlan.com. Deborah has also been selected to the "VIP40" by Intuit, "Top Business Process Outsourcing ProAdvisor of 2015" by Insightful Accountant and "Top 100 ProAdvisor of 2016."