As home builders, building a solid management team is just as important as constructing a solid building. Your management team defines and directs the core of your business activity. Whether you are a start-up or have been in the game for a few decades, chances are your management team, and style, has seen its fair share of evolutionary stages.
While there is no one-size-fits-all approach to building a solid management team, there are a few areas to address when choosing who will lead and how they will be most effective. As a business owner, one of the most challenging lessons to learn is that of delegation. Handing over your “baby” to a new manager requires trust and confidence in your leaders’ skills and experience. Here are a few areas to consider at any stage of the management team building process:
- Take Your Time
Usually, when a company is in position to add new team members to management, it is out of necessity. Often increased demands, growth and sometimes turnover are cause for seeking the next leader. While time constraints and pressure can add to a sense of urgency, do not rush the search process. Whether choosing to work with a recruiter or executive search firm or running a search in house, take your time finding the right candidate. It may take two or three interviews and several rounds of filtering, but it will cost your business more in the end if the final candidate isn’t the right one for the job.
- Be Realistic
In addition to having realistic expectations for performance, your business structure and leadership responsibilities must be balanced and accurate. It is easy to sugarcoat the company when trying to attract top-notch talent, but if you do not portray a realistic state of your business and responsibilities at hand, you may find yourself licking wounds later. By being upfront from the get-go, you will have leaders who are better prepared and informed of the road ahead and focused on developing clear strategies to meet your business goals and objectives.
- Motivate
Motivation doesn’t necessarily come in the form of a company huddle or a pat on the back. Motivation must be built in the structure of your company culture. For leaders to take ownership of their role and a business, they must feel a part of something greater than the next task at hand. Incentives and performance bonuses are the easy go-to answer, but don’t overlook the power of recognition. Recognizing employees’ successes, goals achieved and new acquisitions in a meaningful way can keep the embers burning. Creating a culture where team members recognize and applaud each other creates a level of motivation that is contagious. From internal newsletters highlighting the employee of the month to awards and team luncheons to honor top leaders, announcing and sharing team achievements can assist in building a sense of worth and purpose.
- Get Fitted
Along with a great team comes a proper fitting. We’re not talking about suits and ties; rather, getting “fitted” refers to your leadership lineup and their duties. Depending on the size of your business, you will need to have leaders who fit the role of the CEO, COO, CFO and other executive seats within marketing, technology, human resources and more. The responsibilities for each position should fit the title, and the title should fit the experience and expertise of the individual. In a sense, every new leader should have a proper “fitting” so that you maximize each person’s skills and talents.
Building a team of solid leaders takes time and will need to be adjusted and expanded as your business grows and evolves. By conducting thorough searches, setting realistic expectations and keeping motivation up, your leadership team will set a high standard for achieving goals at any (and every) stage of your business.
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