The Team

Imagine all the work you’ve got to do when you run a business. Be it finance, marketing, operations or administration… you can’t possibly be at all places at one time. Even if you start the business as a sole proprietor, you would still need to rope in people or employees to help you at some stage and delegate the task. That’s when team work comes into play.

For a team to achieve its goals, each and every member must do more than just carry their own weight. All of you must involve, support, and share information with your team mates. And you must commit to the success of the entire team, not simply your own success.

The Team Leader – Bringing Out the Best in Others

To start off, in order for the team to effectively function and maintain good communications with all parties, there needs to be a designated leader. The team leader may be appointed by the team members from among the group.

This leadership role can be challenging in that the leader will need to provide structure and support to the group while still being a team member. This person must be able to guide, stimulate, coach and coordinate well. He or she will ultimately be the one who ensure that each team member contributes their strengths and displays their fullest potential in the business or project.

The essence of a team

When building a team, the leader should consider the basic skills needed by members of the group. Ideally, four types of people are needed in a team.

A producer.
This person knows how to get the job done. He or she has wide contact of suppliers, people whom he can get resources from and is good at running the operations of a business. Is a highly energetic and responsible person.

An administrator.
He or she is able to plan and organize, has good time management skills, resourceful in planning schedules, to-do lists, ensuring datelines are met, making arrangements and ensuring that everyone is on track. Is someone who never runs out of steam.

An entrepreneur.
This individual has vision and creative problem-solving abilities. He or she is someone is able to think out of the box and has an eye for detail. Very likely is the one who comes out with the business idea(s) and studies market opportunity in his innovation/ business.

An integrator.
This person can take an individual goal and transform it into a group goal. Is someone who possesses great communication and interpersonal skills, and able to translate thoughts to action. During team meetings, this person will be the moderator of the discussions.
When you are organizing a team, you should try to assemble in the group, individuals who possess one or more of each of the above four qualities. The input of each is critical in achieving a productive, well-balanced team.

Ultimately, the best decisions come from teams in which everyone is committed to contributing and working TOGETHER.

We’ll get it there, faster

When you work together as a team, pay respect to each other and follow these steps to achieve your goals faster.

Listen and pay attention to one another.
Everyone’s views are important, so give your fullest attention and respect by listening to what each team member has to say.

Discuss the issue at hand and work through conflict as opposed to avoidance of conflict. Instead of totally avoiding the situation and cause the business or project to get affected, be professional about it and work out alternatives and solutions whenever conflicts arise. Things have to be sorted out on no matter what.

Let everyone have a chance to state his or her views. No one view is the best view until you’ve heard all the views. So, allow everyone to give their feedback and speak up.

Know and use problem-solving steps. Throughout the process, you’ll face many unforeseen problems. Whether they are problems relating to location, suppliers, pricing, customers, or even internal conflicts with your team mates. The biggest problem among all problems is to leave it (problem) unattended. So be ready to be called for last minute meetings and brainstorm for ideas and solutions together.

Be clear about group decisions and get committed to them. After brainstorming and discussions, you would have come up with group decisions. Make sure that everyone sticks to the decisions, even if some team members may not agree totally. It is important that the group is committed to the decisions and respect them.

Give frequent feedback to members to help them stay focused on team goals. Once the tasks are assigned, everyone will be busy working on their own responsibilities. Constant updates and communication is essential, so as to feedback to each member how they and others are doing. In this way, everyone is kept informed and able to stay focus on the overall goal.
Working together happily and enjoying what you are doing, isn’t that what you wish for? So, cherish the relationship you have with your team and sail towards success!