A well-formed team accounts for 90% of any business’ success. But it’s not enough to find the right people, you have to know how to work with them. When I was creating Mindset Consulting, I understood clearly that my relationship with the team must be based on trust and partnership. This gave birth to the five principles that, I believe, should be followed by every entrepreneur in working with their team.
Constant growth
It’s a real pleasure to invest in the professional growth of your team! Training sessions, courses, participation in industry conferences. All of these promote motivation and active professional growth of your employees. Moreover, education is always about insights and inspiration – and without those, it’s difficult to give 100 per cent and remain in a resourceful state. It’s important for a company that has its sights on success to pay attention to enhancing the expertise of its employees and regularly provide them with opportunities for quality education.
Positive reinforcement and no pressure
Today, greater attention is being paid to mental health, and workplace relationships are no exception. If you value your employees’ peace of mind, they will respond with greater productivity. It’s best to set clear boundaries and establish rules and remind your team about them. For example, they don’t have to answer the clients in their off-hours, they shouldn’t work on the weekends, training sessions and other events are optional, and if a client asks for something above the set KPIs, it should be discussed with the management.
Say “no” to top-bottom communication
A modern leader is calm and level-headed, a partner, not a dictator. A team of professionals is a team of mature and accomplished people who have no need for the carrot and stick method of management. They know what they are doing and why. If a person needs praise and scolding to work well, it’s clear that they lack motivation, and it’s unlikely that they will contribute to the company’s success in the long run.
Minimum of control
Self-sufficiency and self-reliance are incredibly valuable qualities. Trust your team – and forget about excessive control and micromanagement. A manager is a problem solver, someone who deals with a project on their own instead of waiting for countless hints from the company head. If you are unsure about the new employee, keep close track during the first month and ask a lot of questions. But as soon as you sense that they can manage on their own, switch over to the observer mode.
The team comes first
A leader must protect their team no matter what. Never play the blame game publicly and single out individual employees if mistakes are made. An entrepreneur is someone who takes responsibility for the final result and for every team member. Your team’s comfort, a sense of trust, and loyalty are the best foundation for a workplace relationship and effective operations of your company.