Making an Incredible Team

Face it, we've all been part of some teams in our career that we would say are okay. Not great, not outstanding, but also not bad, not horrible, etc. For those of us who have had the pleasure of working in a top-performing team, it's an amazing experience that we wish everyone could share and experience. The point of this article isn't so much a perfect guide on how to build an incredible team, but rather it provides a number of key ideas that should help you make your team/org/company a place where exceptional people can, and will, call home and sell simply by their passion.

First, you need to have an offering that does what it claims and improves on what is currently available. It doesn't matter if it's the most innovative widget or not, the key is that your employees can stand behind it and be passionate about it without endangering their reputation. You see, people know the truth, people buy from people. They also know that it's a small world and word gets around if what your selling doesn't fulfill the promise expressed. So, make sure you have an honest offering that your people don't have to be careful or embarrassed about.

Two, treat your employees right. I know this sounds simple, but in the world of trying to shave a few pennies here and there, you sometimes end up doing things that hurt your employees. Take travel for example. First, you should assume that your people don't travel for the sake of traveling. Trust them to make good decisions. If you need to constrain things in a budget, give them the budget and let them use that to make decisions. This is empowering and shows trust. Make sure that your travel policy recognizes that most travel incurs a lot of time outside of business hours, so make it comfortable. If they're flying for more than 6 or 8 hours, kick them to economy plus. Give them a daily per diem so that if they want to skip breakfast and lunch and have a nice dinner, they can.

Third, empower your team to leverage their best talents for the good of the team/org/company. By letting them branch out, you may find rockstars of innovation hiding in plain sight. You could realize efficiency gains, or simply provide the room that a member needs to grow in their career. Help them remember that there are still established goals that need to be accomplished, and chances are pretty high that they'll get them done, even if they aren't their favorite part of what they do, simply because they are finding satisfaction in other parts of their job.

Number four on the list is to make opportunities for the team to get together. Being in physical proximity is something that can't be replaced by video conferencing, web-based community apps, etc. Remote workers need to be able to spend time with their team and with other parts of the company. If they don't, and they are forgotten when it comes to holiday parties, picnics, and events that happen at major sites, they end up feeling forgotten at best and slighted at the worst.

The fifth is to work with the team on developing their career. Let's face it, nobody does lifelong careers anymore. For the most part, people expect to develop and grow over the course of their careers. This often involves promotion or title enhancements within the same company, and often better titled and paying positions when they do eventually leave, which they will. As their leader, you should help them grow, even if it eventually leads them somewhere else. They will be forever grateful for the help you provided them, and who knows, someday, they may be hiring you.

The sixth and final is all about recognition. Understand that different team members need different types of recognition. For some, it's all about the dollars and cents, for others, it's about public recognition. For most, it's a mix of both. Ignore this, and you end up with unsatisfied and frustrated team members, who are less productive and likely to leave.

If you can fulfill the items above, you end up with a very positive and supportive environment. Nobody is going to love it every day, but they will most days, and when people enjoy what they are doing and whom they are doing it for, they simply do it better. This is where passion grows, and passion sells your offering in a way that simple marketing techniques can't. Passion shows an underlying belief that what the team is doing is the best and that it can be applied successfully.

Help create passion by creating a positive and supportive environment needed for success and you may just end up with the best team you could ever ask for.