Building a team

One of the most important things you can do in your business is build a strong, reliable team. The team you have can make or break a business and it’s not just all about having the right people to handle the businesses affairs. Having the right team in place from the get go is essential for when you are further building on that team or a new one. With so many businesses looking to expand or regain team size, we’ve built this article as a refresher on what’s important when building a team! 

Why is a team essential?

They say many hands makes for light work. That is the very idea behind why businesses need teams of people, it’s to make the work lighter.

It’s essential that each member of a team has an approach to problems that’s based on their unique knowledge and skills, as this is why they’re on the team! It’s that mix of lived in experience and differing skills that make a team what it is.

Different skills – Each person has a unique skill set that they’ve built up through a life of experiences, your business will need a healthy mix of skill sets to survive in an ever changing market.

Different knowledge – Everyone comes from an educational background of some kind and it plays a major part in what we know and how we apply it, so a business needs varied knowledge among it’s team members if it’s to tackle the myriad of problems businesses can encounter.

Different approaches – With people coming from all kinds of backgrounds, it makes their talents known through their approach. A talented team member can use their skills and knowledge to make well informed business decisions.

Differing levels

The cost of a team is important to manage too, so having people at different levels of the team is important. You do not want a team of juniors or a team of all managers because this could lead to costly and time consuming issues. Having people at the different levels of your business is very important for your overall success. You’ll need to find a formula custom to your business that allows for roles to be easily filled at these levels, try to find a ratio that works fr your businesses size and future growth prospects.

You are always going to need new staff so ensure your business has the room to accommodate new staff, regardless of prior experience they will need time to get to know how your business works, so by giving your business the room for trainees your business won’t be interrupted by onboarding new staff!

Apprentices are also something a business can look at to expand its teams. This only applies to businesses under the apprenticeship scheme however it’s quite accessible for a lot of businesses. Chances are your business is already making room for apprentices, but you may need to consider how this effects other parts of your business and what resources you may need to onboard apprentices later.

Career growth later down the line will be important for your business, as it grows and your team changes over, you’ll end up with gaps in the team, which will be easier to fill by promoting someone whose already shown a clear and confidant commitment to the team!

Career maps

Having a career map in for your team is practical when building a team because it gives you another structure to go off. You need to build a streamlined career map that allows for people to ascend the ranks while not leaving gaps in important areas of the business. So start by looking at how your business plans to expand and how best a promotion track can fit those projected goals. Your career map needs to be flexible to allow for changes in the team to happen without interrupting your goals for expansion. This is easily achieved by making sure your teams are all on the same page and aware of what duties need to be done, that way if someone gets promoted or leaves, the team doesn’t struggle or lag behind.

Diverse team

Think back to when we discussed what is essential in a team, It applies to diversity too! Diversity in a team isn’t just the benefit of having people of all walks of life, it’s about more then just making sure you’re up to standards. Diversity on a team can allow you to tackle problems you couldn’t before, it gives you a look in to the lives of others both professionally and personally. Diverse teams bring diverse solutions which is needed now more then at any other time. It’s why there’s suddenly such a scramble to diversify teams, businesses are starting to see how much revenue and business they’ve been losing out on because of a lack of inclusive practices.

The two most significant things to look for when diversifying your team are background and approach. This will tell you how they tackle problems and what their process is, their background will give you insight into what other skills they possess and use.

HtE Recruitment have over the years helped many companies with change management. If you are building a team or rebuilding a team, our recruiters are here to support you

HtE Recruitment News & Insights

This news and insights page has been written by Josh our Recruitment & Marketing Coordinator. HtE Recruitment take no responsibility for this post.