5 Secrets of Successfully Building a Team

Building the perfect team is not a walk in the park. It’s a difficult undertaking that sometimes doesn’t become a reality. While it is definitely possible, it really is not easy to find productive and efficient team members who share common values and goals.

Building the dream team is definitely a tough challenge. To help you have your perfect team, we’ll let you in on five of our very own secrets. We want you to have a team that can help you realize your goals with ease. Here are our 5 secrets to successfully building a team:

Hire the perfect team members.

The team building process starts when you hire members of your team. You might be tempted to narrow your choices purely on academic records or on previous work experience, but these shouldn’t be your only considerations. We want you to understand that it’s not all about how capable the candidate is when it comes to technical skills, but it should also be about how socially smart the aspiring team member is. It’s about how well he could be part of your team.

A lot of employers fail to see the value of having someone who’s a perfect fit for your corporate values. We understand that is an additional criterion that usually leaves us with no qualified applicant, but in the end, your goal is to find the perfect match for your team. Don’t settle for someone who’s just capable, look for the perfect team member.

Set SMART goals for the team.

In building your team, you must be able to clearly define what your goals are as a team. We mentioned how the perfect team has a common goal, and this should be set and understood by all members.

When it comes to goals, you’ll always come across with the word SMART, which is an acronym for what the characteristics of good goals are: specific, measurable, accurate, realistic, and time-bound. Setting goals that are guided by these descriptions will help your team understand just what really you want to achieve.

And when you have set your goals, remind everyone how important each of the members of the team is in accomplishing your goal. Inspire them to their part to the best of their abilities so all of you could reach your goals with ease.

While you’re at it, let your team understand the benefit of achieving these goals. Tell them what they’ll accomplish when they do their best to achieve certain milestones. Of course, they won’t always receive financial benefits, but ensure them that they would get a lot of learnings, equipping them with the necessary skills and technical know-how for when they become the leaders of their own teams one day.

Equip your team with the needed resources

Your team may be the best around, but not much can be accomplished with limited resources. Ensure that your team can act with ease by providing everything they need to work their best. Trust that your team will utilize these resources wisely.

Also, make sure that you give the needing funding to proceed with the projects your team is tasked to do. Of course, the realization of profits should be the number one priority, but consider all the needed expenses and make sure that your team would not shell out their own resources for what would benefit the organization.

Most importantly, make sure that you compensate your team well. Everybody on the team would be best motivated if they know that they are receiving the right compensation for their hard work. It’s difficult to give your best when you know you won’t receive something equitable in return. So to keep your team working at their best, ensure that you pay them well.

Avoid favoritism at work

It’s natural that you feel a stronger affinity with one or two members of your team, possibly because they perform their best, or maybe that they literally sit down near you so you have more time to talk about non-work-related stuff, or maybe that you share common interests. This affinity, however, should not make you treat these team members any differently from the rest.

As a leader of a team, you must treat everybody equally – just like how parents should treat their children. Favoritism has no place in the workplace, and will definitely ruin the chances of building the dream team if it makes its way through. Favoritism will cause all sorts of office mayhem so please avoid at all cost.

In order to prevent this, make sure that you give equal opportunity to everyone. Also, make sure you hold one-on-one talks with all team members so you have time to discuss both work and personal matters. You might also wish to try shuffling seats once in a while.

Spend time on a team building activity

Team building activities are so named because they really help in building your team into a great one. Again, it is truly difficult to have the perfect team so sometimes, it’s easier to make the most out of the team you already have. You’ll just have to spend effort in crafting this team to the best it can be. Team building activities, when done right, is a great tool that can help transform a regular team into the most admirable team you can ever dream of.

But to make a team building activity produce the best results, you must consider a number of factors. First, have your team members work with you on the plan. Let them do their fair share of planning. This will empower them greatly. Second, have your team building activity scheduled on a workday. Don’t take your team’s family time away from them. Find the perfect opportunity to hold your team building activity in what should be time for work. Finally, hold your team building activity on a place away from your workplace. Keep them away from your office so they would truly concentrate on your event and not on work.

Again, team building activities can help you transform your team into your dream team. If you already believe that your team is the best you can have, you’d be surprised at what more you can achieve with a simple, but definitely worthwhile activity.