Business
Today we are talking about 3 Tips for Building a Team that Increases Your Firm's Success. If you want to learn how to build a team that builds success, you will want to take a look at the big picture. Take any successful entrepreneur, and behind him or her, you will find a well-suited team of supportive, knowledgeable, and energetic members all dedicated to increasing the success of your business. Tip #1 for building a team that builds success. If you’re trying to understand how to build a team that builds success, you should first pinpoint the mission of your business. Only when you have a clear understanding, as a leader, of the mission of your business, can you build the right team. When you can clearly identify and emotionally connect with the mission, you are able to identify the right people who are best suited to support the success of your business. Depending on the mission statement of the business, you may need to focus on building a team of creatives, analytics, intellectuals, or spiritualists. For example, a PR (public relations) firm wouldn’t necessarily build a team of spiritualists; that personality would be better suited for a business that is motivational or inspirationally based. A PR firm would more likely hire creatives and intellectuals. Another example of personality matching would be an accounting firm; they would look to building a team of analytical members, not necessarily creatives or spirituals. Always start with the mission of the business, and then build your team. Let’s say you need an assistant to travel with you to help you with live events such as seminars and guest appearances. An important personality factor would be to ensure the team member has the following qualities: • reliable and punctual • great organizer • keeps you calm under times of stress • takes care of the small details so you don’t have to • loves traveling • love meeting new people • has a personable, magnetic personality Action Step #1 Revisit your professional mission statement. If it doesn’t “sit right” with you or isn’t specific enough, rewrite it. Your mission statement should always begin with benefit(s) to your clients (and who those clients are), followed by a reason(s). It should always invoke some meaning for you, as in a passion or personal mission. For example, “ABC International is dedicated to providing expert overseas investment advice to small business owners (less than 20 employees) in the U.S. and Canada, so they can increase their wealth, leverage their financial worth and grow their business.” Present your professional mission statement to new hires and explain what it means to you personally, as well as professionally. When they can grasp why it’s important, they can incorporate that into their actions. Tip #2 for building a team that builds success. Think about the areas of your business where you struggle and could obviously use the help. Make a list of those tasks you would like or need help with and then look for those strengths in potential candidates. Additionally, take into consideration the kind of personality you tend to gravitate towards. Do you enjoy being with people who are: Funny? Serious? Energetic? Go-Getter? Talker or silent-type? Make a list of the kind of personality you tend to enjoy the most and then look for those additional traits in candidates. Unfortunately, interviews are not the ideal situations to explore personality traits, since potential candidate are generally nervous, but you could ask them to complete a personality profile as part of the application process. There are several sources for free or low-cost personality screens, but the Myers-Briggs Personality (MBP) Test is best suited for career related insight. Are you worried about how a potential candidate will fit in with an existing team? While this is a viable consideration, it should not make or break your decision. You, better than anyone, knows what your business needs to suc