"Coming together is a beginning, staying together is progress, and working together is success." ~ Henry Ford
There is a limit on how much you can grow your business on your own.
When you do everything on your own, you will never be able to fulfill your own potential, your business potential, and certainly won’t be able to make a difference in the lives of all the people that need you.
Starting to build a team is a big leap for most small business owners, but it’s often – the only way to grow your income, impact and influence.
Building a strong team isn’t only about finding and hiring the right people for each role. It’s about relieving yourself of the responsibility of managing everything on your own all of the time. It’s also about making an investment in your company and a commitment to finding greater success.
Here are 10 tips to get you started with building your dream team:
1. Don’t Rush into the Hiring Process
Only bring people on board when you absolutely need to and only when you’ve found the perfect candidate to fill a role. Never settle for less.
2. Consider Bringing on Freelancers First
This is a great way to experience a candidate’s strengths and desire to work with you. It can also be a tremendous cost-savings if you are unsure of exactly what the long-term status of any position will be with the company.
All the next points are applicable for both employees or freelancers.
3. Talk to Your Network
Your network is a great place to find recommendations from people you trust. But just because someone recommends someone it doesn’t mean the candidate is the best fir for you. Make sure to check all of their references and test their skills!
4. Be Clear on Job Responsibilities
Discuss with your candidates their job description to make sure they completely understand what the job entails and that it’s a good fit for them.
5. Do Rigorous Research Before Inviting to an Interview
Review their work samples, references (talk to those of gave them references), social media, and anything you can find online.
6. Interview Only the Most Qualified Candidates
Interviewing too many candidates will add to your hectic workload, will add too many options to consider and won’t allow you to focus on making the right choice.
7. Let Them Do a Project to Prove Their Capabilities
This is crucial. I have never hired anyone – employee or freelancer – before letting them do a project to show how they work and what they can. You can ask them to do it for free, or for a symbolic price, or you can agree to pay them for it – if you hire them. It’s up to you.
8. Only Offer the Job to the Best Candidate
Only make an offer to the best candidate. It’s better you keep looking than settle if you have concerns that it won’t be a good fit.
9. Create an Onboarding Program
Create a program for all new team members that introduces them to the company, the company vision, values and goals, and to your way of working.
10. Set Goals and Keep Them Busy from the Start
Don’t let them sit around waiting for you to give them something to do. Have a project with goals, deliverables and deadlines from the get go.
Now It’s YOUR Turn
For five minutes… come up with as many ideas as you can… what could YOU do start (or continue) building a team?
Let's Brainstorm
Please share your ideas (all of them or just one) in the comment box below… and let’s get WOWing.
Live fully, stay awesome,
Nisandeh Neta
Top Commenters – last 30 Days
Let's Brainstorm
Please share your ideas (all of them or just one) in the comment box below… and let’s get WOWing.
Live fully, stay awesome,
Nisandeh Neta
201 comments
1. When asking your netwerk, be specific about what you want and need.
Also about mindset.
2. The MINDSET can be a little different from yours:
What I read in the Quadrant from Robbert Kyosaki was that you need 4 kinds of people in your life.
You need them all. How ever. That means that you expect different things from them
A work ethic and willing to grow how ever is part of every quadrant.
3. Be carefull with people you know as friends.
Especially if you want them to do projects. I had someone that was putting herself above the others, or even worse, putting them above you.
4. Have a cristal clear vision of how your team should work together.
5. Make sure they can start right away task that inspires them
6. CHECK YOUR ADVISORS
Even if you have a great, expensive advisor. Check always by yourself if you have the right fit.
7. What I learned from my brother inlaw
Talk about other things to see if that person is the right fit.
8. If you hire an expert on a feald that is not yours. Let other experts in that field qualify him.
Before or after you talked to that person.
9. Even if a person seems like a Godsend
Make sure you qualify him or her during doing what they are hired for.
10. Always ask the question: What are you willing to learn.
I had a few team members that said:"Nothing' I am experienced enough. That person is not willing to learn from you. But can destroy your business by going his own way
DO NOT HIRE BUT FIRE that person
94 comments
We work with freelancers and so far it is going well. A personal relationship matters.
112 comments
I haven't thought about this subjecct yet. So, I am looking from an employee's point of view what you can do to keep your team motivated and everyone sparks.
1. Treat everyone equally. When one of your team has an anniversary of being with you so many years and you throw a party. Do it also for other team members later on.
2. David already mentioned it. Find the spark in someone and make sure it keeps sparking. Vonken niet vinken (spark not check off).
3. I would use something I have in my toolbox, The Dominance Factor. With a few simple tests I can find out how every person works under stress by assessing their dominance profile. It makes them also aware why they have certain behaviour under stress and what they can do about it.
And thank you all for the great tips you shared.
160 comments
Listen to your gut!
Work with freelancers.
To get your dream team, take time to get to know the person. Do a "test drive" on certain tasks that are important to you.
Start with a week (paid), then reconsider.
3 comments
The most important in working with people is to help them to find their own spark. Or to find people with the spark already inside.
Then you add this spark to your own into the place where you miss it or not really excited about it.
Don’t make them a part of your dream, be a part of theirs.
67 comments
So far my team has grown to 11 people at the beginning of 2020. Due to Corona and some individual decisions we lost multiple team members. Reason for me to rely more on our own staff and I have employed 4 people until right now. For future growth I am looking more in to partnerships and franchisees. We will reduce our own staff again.
My learnings;
- Only grow with a goal in mind
- Engaged team members are key
- Celebrate successes together
- VA's are not the holy grail neither is own staff
- Don't find copies of yourself find people to complement you
576 comments
And can you tell what IS the holy grail? 😃
111 comments
Thanks to @Aramik I realised I do have a team... When the word team comes up my idea of it is those corporate teams and paid employees, so thanks to Aramik and this post I realised that I've been working many years with a team, but I never called it a team I used to call them "My Angel Helpers".
I'm happy to say that some of them have been working with me for nearly a decade, so something that I'm doing works...
Here are my ideas of how to build a team;
1. Was mentioned - but worth repeating as I believe without it no team would exist for long. You MUST make your vision and values clear before starting with any of team member. I make it very clear what my vision for the way we would work together is and then ask them what are their main values when they are working to see if it fits in my vision. I would ask them to give me concrete examples how they use their values in daily work in order to see if it fits me.
2. ALWAYS give them a project they can show their skills and abilities and encourage them to impress you with stuff you have not thought about andf they LOVE doing.
3. Thanks to #2 - I don't look at diplomas, though people do bring/send them in, but for me they are less important than point #1&2
4. Due to lack of money - I first check if we can do a barter instead of paying them for the first period of time that they work with me. For instance my current VA I mentor and coach her on scriptwriting, that otherwise would cost her $450 (New Zealand) per session. If the first term of working together is successful, I pay them as freelancers.
5. I agree with @Ine, as much as possible work with interns. They have the motivation and incentive to bring their best, even if they don't stay for long.
6. One thing I found out that works like a charm especially as we all work remotely is have a weekly FUN meeting that has nothing to do with work. This was even more important in the last period with lockdowns.
328 comments
you are so welcome, dear @Bina!
And I am very impressed by your tips and idea's and that you are actually working so long with your team..
So some Questions:
1) How do you come up with the "right" projects when in the beginning they are too enthusiastic OR even afraid to say they can't handle it?
2) How do you switch/communicatie if you find out they are not a great fit into a project?
3) FUN-meetings? Please do tell me more... What do you mean by this and what do you actually do then?
175 comments
#7 From the list is great. I have a strong will to please, with the result I hire people before I even know if they're capable. When I will integrate this in a hiring plan, it will be easier for me to figure out if they're the ideal candidate. Instead of giving them the job because them seem so nice to me.
1. Look for people with the right MINDSET - If someone doesn't have the skills but has the right mindset, you can train him/her. Changing their mindset, though, can be really problematic (read: impossible). Listen to the candidate carefully. Their personal details can show you their mindset. For instance when a candidate worked in Dutch horeca for years, big chance she/he is a hard worker.
2. Consider having interns - when you find interns with the right mindset, they can be a great help and possible employees in the future. Low risk, because they stay with you for just half a year.
3. Take good care of your team - I always give them a good and healthy lunch, it gives them good fuel for the rest of the day. Lunch break is a quality moment to get to know each other, evaluate and celebrate.
576 comments
1. Don’t stare blind on diplomas. I prefer work ethics over qualifications. Skills can be learned. I have a web master who didn’t know much of what I needed only one thing. But I trained him in the others. Was some effort but when I snap my fingers he’ll be there… so have a look if it’s something your teammmember can learn
2. Ask applicants to apply on video- it will show more their personality and especially when you have a bigger team with people working together you will want to see if they fit in the team and not just with you
3. Have your other coworkers talk with them too.
4. If they’re good you’ll need to keep them. At the moment there is more work than people but even if there not- always reward them well. Give them the feeling that they’re appreciated. Give them a raise without them asking.
5. Keeping a team sometimes is harder than creating one. But that’s another topic.
67 comments
Fair point 5 Gerdy - a good future topic for the idea generator
160 comments
Loyalty however is a thing as well... But sometimes you still need a certain person...