How to Build a Team That Will Grow With You

Many companies focus on investing their resources in consulting services or different software but often neglect one of the most important components of success: their team.

Teamwork makes the dream work! There is a reason that saying exists. A research study stated that 97% of executives and employees believe that it negatively impacts their tasks or projects if a team is not aligned correctly.

It might be harrowing for you to learn about this, but the answer to this is straightforward: focus on building an effective team.

An effective team strives to grow as the business grows. Creating an environment conducive to inspiration, innovation, and growth is essential and cannot be done without hiring the right members for your team.

Employees are an investment, so you want to make sure that your business will thrive and the investment will pay off by investing in your team. Here are some essential tips and tools that can help you build your dream team.

10 Tips on Building a Team That Grows With Your Business

Building an efficient team can be a challenging task that requires you to take the employees’ past experiences, goals, skills, communication methods, and previous team experiences into account. 

The following are ten tips that you can follow to instill collaboration in your team to scale your business.

Conduct a Thorough Interview of Prospective Employees

"At ryze our brand values play a key role in the hiring process, so it's super important for us to recognize profiles that fit our values from the very beginning."

- Shenhav Baruch, HR Director at ryze

Interviews are crucial as they help you determine the potential employees’ values, skills, and knowledge. Hiring and conducting interviews is the first step towards building the best team for your business.

To comprehensively interview a candidate, you should conduct a minimum of three interviews. Start by asking open-ended questions to give you a better idea about their capabilities, attitudes, and skills. 

It would be best to interview potential team members more than once because they will become less and less likely to put up walls. Your goal of questioning should be to see who the real candidate is and how well they will mesh with the rest of the organization. 

Hire People With Different Skill Sets

Diversity is exceptionally important and hiring people with different skill sets allows you to build a balanced team made up of strategists, planners, and operators.

Often, company managers and owners hire people whose strengths and skill sets align with the job role and responsibilities. Instead, you should determine which skills your organization needs to grow and which skill sets people in your current team do not have to hire people accordingly. 

So, if you have a team that excels at operations and product development but does not know how to analyze and gather data, you should hire a person who is excellent at working with data.

Have Proper Work Orientations

Usually, orientations are a one-day session instead of a complete process. You need to design a two-month orientation process so that the new hires can learn about their responsibilities and start mingling with the rest of the team. 

Some workplaces do not even have orientations for new members! This can lead to the new hires feeling lost and unwelcome. It’s so crucial that sources say that over 69% of workers who have had a great onboarding experience will have an increased chance of staying with that company for at least three years.

Communicate The Company’s Mission and Set Goals Accordingly

Communicating your company’s vision and mission to your employees gives them a sense of direction and purpose that encourages them to contribute to its growth. Not only this, it boosts their morale that in turn increases their productivity. 

At ryze we believe strongly in working with individuals who have similar values to ours and explaining them to the new employees from the get-go. This creates a company culture that lives and breathes our goals, mission, DNA, and values. 

Research shows that over 73% of team members felt more engaged when their company was ‘purpose-driven.’ Now, to align your team’s performance with its objectives, you need to set specific goals.

Create these goals while keeping your company’s mission in mind and ensure that they allow your team to come together as a unit so that they work towards achieving your company’s objectives. 

Cultivate Diversity

Having a team with members belonging to different ethnic backgrounds, genders, ages, and races, etc., will help people gain additional insights and perspectives. This may allow the company to reach newer markets. Research supports the fact that companies that have diverse employees outperform their competitors. 

This is because all the employees in a diverse team have different experiences that benefit your company regarding effective problem-solving and decision–making. With varying perspectives, you can even leverage different ideas and opinions that help you improve your business processes.

Ensure Your Employees Have Similar Work Ethic

Team members should be on the same page about what the company represents, its goals, and how to achieve them. Hiring employees with the same work ethic is essential because if your team members have an all-hands-on-deck attitude, but a new hire is indifferent towards work, the harmony within the team will be affected.

Look for attributes like dedication to work, reliability, discipline, sense of responsibility, and professionalism. When all your employees display a strong work ethic, you will experience an increase in their productivity to achieve your goals. 

Create a Reward System

Building a team that wants to grow in the same direction you do will positively impact your company. Thus, if you see members from your team performing well or exhibiting behaviors aligned with the company’s mission, recognize and reward their efforts. 

This will motivate your team further, as a study shows that employees who receive frequent and immediate rewards for completing tasks are more interested in their work and enjoy it more. The rewards do not have to be expensive either. Just a thank you from the CEO or manager or a personal note aids in creating more retention and good rapport.

Do Not Shy Away from Conflict

No matter how well-suited your team is to your company; there is always a chance that conflicts and misunderstandings may occur. As a leader, you will have to deal with confrontations between team members. 

The first step is to keep an open mind and listen to both arguments carefully. Then, interview others who witnessed the altercation. Sit with the members and participate in brainstorming solutions that work for both of them. This could help generate ideas that you may never have thought of if this conflict didn’t occur!

It isn’t to say that quarrels are good, but it helps people see more points of view, making them more open-minded and inviting more possibilities.

Team-Building Events

Creating a strong sense of community and camaraderie within a team can be done through team-building events. If the event is educational and entertaining, employees will remember this experience and create lasting partnerships and friendships. 

Team-building events help team members bond and see different sides of each other. It is good to have these events at least twice a year, and some ideas for these could be: 

Fundraisers for different charities.

Social events like bowling competitions or picnics.

Outdoor activities like climbing, hiking, or sailing, if the members are into physically challenging activities.

Indoor activities like inventing a game, filming a video for the office, or playing board games.

Get to Know Team Members Individually

Leaders can only create an effective team if they know them! The team will feel more encouraged if their boss takes an interest in connecting with them and motivates them to create a friendly environment in the workspace. 

A leader should get to know employees individually as each member has different skills, drawbacks, and interests. Once you know more about them, you can give them tasks that are more relevant to them. This will help increase job satisfaction. 

Bring the group closer together by having regular check-ins and engaging with them to build more trust. Research states that every 1 in 3 workers does not trust their boss. If you can show employees how relatable you and understanding you are, you can gain their trust, leading them to work more efficiently. 

It is vital to stay professional in such cases, however. It is okay to wish them a happy birthday or attend their weddings if you are invited but do not get highly personal. 

To Sum Up

Trust, clear communication, and team bonding are the three main factors in building a motivated team. Other factors like careful hiring, rewards, and diversity can also create an operational and productive team. By adopting these strategies, you will surely build a team that will grow with you.