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How to Get Your Staff Working Like a Team

Written by: Warren Coughlin

Article Overview: All too often the cry is heard ‘you can’t get good people’ or ‘why can’t I get my people to do as I tell them’. Well here’s a few ideas that may make life a lot easier.

How to Get Your Staff Working Like a Team

All too often the cry is heard ‘you can’t get good people’ or ‘why can’t I get my people to do as I tell them’. Well here’s a few ideas that may make life a lot easier.

Consider for a moment, the business owner who has 10 people working in the business, yet they’re the ones doing all the work. What’s the point!?

Firstly, let’s get back to basics. Most people in business will understand how important systems are. Systems are usually responsible for having a business that runs smoothly (and profitably). With systems in place, it’s simply a matter of employing people to run those systems. Michael Gerber’s fantastic book, The E-Myth, really highlights how important systems are for businesses to be successful. A real life example of course is McDonald’s. With a food product that at best, could only be described as average, it is simply a matter of systems that keep it a hugely successful entity.

The point is, get the systems built in your business. If you feel like you’re banging your head up against a brick wall, take a look at the systems in your business. Look at the most basic things from answering the phone all the way through to how you produce your product. If your systems aren’t clearly defined and easy to understand, how can anyone understand what you want. Preferably write them down and turn them into checklists. This is the basic foundation of business and in turn getting your people to work as a team, something that equals more than the sum of it’s parts.

So, the systems have been built and are clearly defined, and now it’s a matter of recruiting the right people to run those systems. The DISC working personality profile

can really help in selecting the right people for the job. With this knowledge, you can then recruit the right people for the job. However, the real challenge lies ahead. It’s not just a matter of having people who come in, follow the system and get the job done. What you are looking for now is SYNERGY!

Synergy comes from having people who are committed to a ‘common goal’. If people are involved in setting the ‘common goal’, they are generally more likely to commit. If you, as the business owner are dictating to your team ‘this is the goal’, don’t expect much commitment. If your team has ownership, they are much more likely to achieve. Ownership is also very useful when designing and building your systems, let alone setting goals. Keep asking the team this question…’I’m looking for [certain outcome], how do you think we should go about achieving that?’ The successful business owner has team members that say ‘I think we should do like this’. An unsuccessful business owner has team members that say ‘I don’t know, you’re the boss’.

Finally, be aware of what you are teaching your team. By this I mean, if a baby cries and it's mother comes running. What will the baby lean to do after a while? Exactly, let out a cry and in rushes Mum. All I ask is for you to be very aware of what you are teaching your team. If you’re saying to yourself ‘no-one can do it like me’ and you jump in and do it, your team is learning from that.

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