Do you wish your team of staff were as committed to the business as you are?

I‘ve got a bitter pill for you to swallow… The fish rots from the head first!

If you are having trouble with retaining, recruiting, keeping, focusing, directing or motivating your team… the problem is not with them, it’s with you….

When creating a business strategy and plan … the “Team” element must be included. Without the team’s knowledge of the plan, input into the plan, contribution and commitment to the plan, achieving the business plan will be impossible.

First Step 
Conduct a SWOT analysis of your team. Part of the analysis is surveying them on their ideas for the business and their level of work satisfaction. From the feedback, invite those with the most interesting feedback to a business and team improvement workshop. From this review you will know if your team need to be “worked on” prior to the Business Building Workshop.

Second Step
Conduct a workshop to address the business plan, creating the goals with the team and any staffing issues along the way…If you have found that the team have “cancer like issues” that need addressing, then a culture workshop must first be run, prior to attempting to get the team to unite… Team members should feel that they have the capability to contribute to the business. This means giving them the right equipment and environment to be effective is essential. It also helps if they feel safe to contribute their opinion and feedback in a supportive environment.

Ask your team if they think there are factors in their environment which could be improved to help them be more efficient, productive or happy. Perhaps they many prefer music while they work, better light, drinks on a Friday monthly or flexible hours.

Beliefs are the key motivators in peoples’ behaviour. However, changing your team member’s beliefs is not an easy or swift task; sometimes 5 % of the team have to move on.

Recruiting the right people through personality instruments and team interviews can be one strategy but understanding their beliefs can be important in identifying other strategies.

Third Step
What is the work environment like in your business? Does it support giving 100 %, using initiative, going the extra mile, respect for co-workers and for the customer?

Create the culture that “YOU” want in your business! I recently worked with a business owner who held a performance review with a staff member of theirs and addressed some behavioural issues with her. Later another staff member mentioned to the business owner that the very behaviour that the owner addressed with the young lady was actually a behaviour that she had learnt from the owners! The solution was humbling and required the business owner to set the standard of what was required, before judging the behaviour of the team avoiding the saying “does as I say, not as I do”

Changing beliefs such as these can be a daunting challenge. Team leaders need to facilitate change by designing flexible experiences for people in organisations to learn that “maybe there is a different way to look at this”.

Experiential learning such as climbing trees; mountaineering and playing games aren’t just used because they are fun and help build relationships, but because they work. I took a team of 20 staff members to Merribrook Educational retreat, near Margaret River to bond. It was one of the most successful teambuilding exercises that I have run.

Multiple and varied experiences must be used to inspire new ways of seeing and thinking about people, ie other team members, customers, business transactions and desired outcomes.

Reframing opens the mind to new beliefs and desired behaviours.

Information and ideas are not enough they need to be engrained in day-to-day activity. You need to look at training options and ask what beliefs in this organisation may hamper or aid in achieving the desired outcome?

How can our work environment be changed to support flexibility and greater productivity or what experiences will help foster changes in belief and behaviours? Team building is about fostering trust, extension, ownership and development of the team, with the team. It is not an exact science but a starting point to finding the best strategies available to bring out the potential in your team.

Fourth Step 
Follow up on suggestions that are put forward by staff members. Agree on priorities and let the entire team be aware of the progress of the business. This is very powerful in demonstrating the culture and authenticity of the discussions had and plans made.

Fifth Step
Recognise excellent ideas, suggestions, exceptional behaviour and results. Team member’s love being authentically and appropriately, recognised in front of their peers.