“Great things in business are never done by one person; they are done by a team of people.” -Steve Jobs 

As they say, ‘two heads are always better than one’. A bunch of people working towards achieving a common goal makes the whole process a lot faster, efficient and fun. When it comes to the world of business, hiring a superstar or two won’t magically make goals happen. Building great teams is extremely important to a company’s success and there is no way to overstate this. Great teams always outperform talented individuals because of the fact that it allows brainstorming and encourages collaboration. Every individual’s uniqueness, different skills, experiences, and backgrounds are what makes a team diverse. A diverse team is always efficient when it comes to problem-solving.

A team is as good as the people in it. When we talk about hiring the team members, they always trump everything else. That’s why it is important to hire the right ones and nurture them to build a great team. Conventional hiring methods mainly focussed on individualism and didn’t encourage team-building. But with the modernization of the recruitment process, it has become more team-oriented. Teamwork and team culture are considered to be important factors in the recruitment process. 

Just building a team is not enough; it also requires to be managed and taken care of so that it lasts. Managing a team requires the management of their needs, egos, and need for attention and recognition. It requires a keen understanding of people, their strengths, weaknesses. Leaders need to trigger what excites the team members to explore and hustle. It’s a lot more complicated task than it seems. Here are some effective tips that can help you to build a team that lasts and is as strong as it can possibly be for your company.

1. Focus On Clear Roles And Responsibilities:

The selection process for picking your team members should be thorough, even if it means you need to invest more time in recruiting than usual. By the process being thorough we mean investing your precious time and money in evaluating the prospective team-member solely on the basis of the role your company needs. You need to be crystal clear about what are your needs, whether it is from a technical or non-technical background. If you don’t emphasize firmly on the role of your future employee, they may end up seeing the role as a temporary landing pad and be less interested in learning eventually. 

After being clear about the roles of the employee, you need to be very clear about the responsibilities of your team members. Having the responsibilities of each of your team members interconnected is a great way to promote the sense of team collaboration within your team. Proper analysis is required while designing the job description and make sure that their roles and responsibilities don’t lie outside it. 

2. Set Goals & Crush Them:

Having a clear sense of what exactly the team is trying to accomplish is a great way to keep them motivated. A clear picture of what success will look like is important in order to build a great team. Along with the clarity of roles, they need sufficient resources and good workflows. That’s why setting short and long-term goals become the foundation for every task that is set out to complete each day. Enthusiasm for the outcome and motivating each other with optimism will effectively help your team members to have a sense of the bigger picture, and knowing the significance of their contribution to every task. 

One very important aspect of goal setting is that the goals should be realistic. Presenting unrealistic and impractical goals may make your team members feel like they are working for a lost cause. Having milestones and deadlines makes the team members reach out to each other and band together for success. 

3. Know Your Team:

Of course, you are not obligated to become best friends with your team members, you must invest your time to know your team members and encourage camaraderie. This boosts up their morale and makes them feel good about being a part of something. How well a team communicates during informal meetings is an important element for the success of a great team. Caring about them, embracing differences and understanding the needs of your team can help them experience their significance. As the employer and manager of a team, you need to recognize that non-work interactions are critical for creating a team that looks out for each other.

Having informal outings occasionally and engaging in some offsite socializing can help your team members to appreciate each other as a person and not just professionally for the job they do. Knowing your team can help you understand the working style of your team members and have constructive discussions on tough and boring days.

4. Celebrate The Success & Failures:

Celebrating the milestones and successes of your team also is a great way to bring them together. It can make them realize the fact that when they work together, great things do happen. In times of uncertainty in every day’s work, you must make time to celebrate the successes and give them credit for their efforts. If someone does a great job, give them a shout-out generously without much hesitation.  This is not just acknowledgment, it goes way beyond that. It’s about what you and your team have accomplished and what have you learned throughout the process. 

In contrast, if your team fails at something, celebrate that too. Come together and analyze where you went wrong, and then redirect your efforts. At the time of failure, motivate your whole team as well as your team members individually. This helps each person in the team to see that what they’re doing has a great impact.

5. Be Proactive with Feedback & Rewards:

A sincere and active team will always want to know about the quality of their work. They always seek any opportunity for improvement. That’s why they will always expect proactive and constructive feedback from their managers on a regular basis. Providing frequent feedbacks is the key to ensure that your team is on the right track and is improving each day. Many leaders and managers usually wait until something goes wrong before they give feedback. Giving constant feedback makes the work quality consistent and the scope for improvement becomes greater. Feedbacks should be natural and informal, part of an ongoing dialogue. 

Along with proactive feedback, make sure you acknowledge and reward your team enough so that they feel appreciated. Take proper time to let your team know that they earned this reward and they deserved it.