Your team is your #1 Business Asset
The success of your business relies on a successful team. Your team helps take the vision and mission of your company out to the clients you serve. They spread your message, support your customers, and build your dream.
The growth of your business depends on the growth of your team. In almost every industry without a team your capacity is limited. As your business grows so does the need for a great team.
Depending on the industry you are in you may find yourself spending anywhere from 25% to even 50% of your company’s revenue on your team.
Are you spending that money or investing it?
You invest in technology, marketing, product development, physical space, equipment because you know it is essential for business growth. Your team is your #1 asset, here is why it is more important than every before to be investing in your team.
1. For your business to grow, a team is essential
Many businesses are run as solo entrepreneurs. Whether it is because of the product or service they offer, or because they do not want to manage a team, it is their intention to be the sole person involved in their business. This is a fine business model.
Other business owners see opportunity for growth through increased capacity and this means having a team. Your team may be employees, independent contractors, or even outsources individuals who have no direct contact with your customers. Your team is anyone who helps you care for your product / service and the customers you serve. Including, virtual assistants, financial support, marketing teams, etc.
For your business go grow into a leveraged business, beyond trading time for money, a team is required.
2. It is expensive to have a team
The solid truth is that paying for payroll, taxes, benefits, processing, etc. etc. is expensive. Depending on your industry you may find as much as 50% of your company revenue goes to building this team.
Hiring alone is an investment. It takes time for you or your leadership team to look for, interview, and train new employees. Time is money in business.
The time and cash it takes to maintain a great team should be enough to encourage you to take care of this asset.
3. It is even more expensive to have a bad team
While not having a team limits your growth, reach, and capacity, having a poorly developed team is more expensive for your company than having no team at all.
A team that struggles to work together, whether due to poor communication or lack of a common goal, will drain the energy of your team, the financial resources of your business, and the respect of your customers.
4. The success of your team is dependent on your leaders
Gather a group of business leaders and you will hear someone complaining about their team.
Kids today have no work ethic; they should be glad they have a job
No one seems to be able to do the job right, it’s not that hard
Everyone is ready to jump ship for the next bigger paycheck, I can’t compete with that
I have hired 3 people for this role in the past year, they don’t stay
It is too hard to hire.
The truth is that hiring is not going to get easier any time soon. The pool of applicants looking for jobs is smaller than it has been in a very long time. You cannot change this. You can learn to be the company everyone wants to work for.
Employees today, regardless of the generation you assign them to, are smart, hard-working, and eager to learn. What makes good employees today different than 20 years ago is that they know they have options outside your company. So, give them options inside of your company.
They want to know there is a path for improvement and personal growth, that what they trade 40% of their time for has a purpose. This does not mean they need a cushy office with no demands on them, it means they want to have an impact.
5. There is a difference between Team Development and Team Training
Training a new employee on how they should do their day to day activities is good, but a growing business needs to do more. A well-trained employee on a team that lacks development will become bored and leave. Or worse yet, they will become bored and stay.
A team with lots of opportunity for team development that lacks training may have fun together, but they will be challenged to create quality growth for the company. Especially in times of stress.
A successful, powerful team has both development and training continually.
Development is about team building. How can we work better together, what is our common goal, why does this business exist and what does it stand for? Understanding the culture of the business, who they serve, and the rules of the game.
Training on essential skills like communication, conflict resolution, customer service, sales, plus role specific training on how to do what they do each day needs to be an ongoing part of business development.
Team Development coupled with Team Training will make your team unstoppable. If the growth of your business and the development of your team are important to you, we would love to share more about how we help you do that for your company. It starts with a simple conversation, schedule yours today.