If you want to build teamwork skills, it starts with having the best people. Creating a talent advantage begins with smart hiring. That said, it never ceases to amaze me at the number of businesses who put little energy and time into mining for talent. Smart leaders do more than just hire teamwork skills and smart people – they have a smart hiring process and/or methodology.
Put simply; talent matters. The problem is that very few people actually possess the talent to identify talent.
Identifying and recruiting talent requires much more than screening a resume and having a set of standard interviewing questions to guide you.
There are issues of values, vision, culture, context etc. that need to be creatively and intuitively addressed in the hiring process.
Before we continue, let me ask you a question.
What hiring action works best in your business? We would love to hear what it was. Would you do us a favor and post it in the comments section below? It would be greatly appreciated by us and our readers.
In today’s post we’ll share our philosophy on the best way to ensure that you hire tier-one talent. We believe one of the best uses of time is to make sure that we make the best hiring decisions possible.
We use the following hiring process attributes when advising our clients:
Teamwork skills … know what you are looking for
If you can’t specifically define what you are looking for, you have little chance of finding it! This definition is both in terms of the job description and the profile of the individual most likely to be successful in that role.
If you can’t define what you’re looking for, you shouldn’t be looking.
Know what you are selling
You are looking for the best talent, correct? This means you are in competition, so it is essential that you are able to put your best foot forward and be able to market your strengths.
Examples of what good talent will be looking for are continuous learning, ability to grow and develop their strengths, etc. Be able to give your examples of these in a soft, non-selling manner.
Take your time
There is wisdom in the expression “hire slow and fire fast.” Don’t panic and end-up making a regrettable hire out of perceived desperation. Give yourself plenty of runways.
You’ll be much better off taking your time and making a good hire rather than using the ready, fire, aim methodology and end-up terming the new hire before they eclipse their probationary period.
Teamwork skills important … always be in Talent Search Mode
This applies even if you are not yet ready to hire. Never let your organization be put behind the talent 8-ball, as great talent is rarely available on a moment’s notice.
Some of the best hires we’ve made over the years were executives that we spent months, and in some cases, years developing relationships with.
Culture-Based Hiring
Culture matters … a lot more than you may believe. You can either spend time finding employees who share your organization’s values or deal with the brain damage of managing conflicts that arise due to opposing values.
Ignore culture in the hiring process and all other hiring initiatives will be diminished, if not lost altogether.
Look to hire leaders.
Teamwork skills important … hire Leaders
When our clients’ companies complain about a lack of leadership, or how difficult it is to identify leaders, our question is simply this:
Why didn’t you hire a leader, to begin with? It is simple … the development of an existing leader is faster, easier, and more effective than creating a new leader.
Related material: 10 Leadership Competencies You Should Not Live Without
Pay for Talent
Talent has an uncanny way of attracting more talent. Know that you are paying more, but if it is the right hire, you will be paid in many ways you are not even considering.
To put it bluntly, you get what you pay for. Real talent produces real results and is worth the investment. You cannot afford not to invest in talent.
Constantly Upgrade
You can hire the best talent in the world, but remember that “best” is a subjective evaluation largely measured within the context of a snapshot in time. Obsolescence can take root in anyone if growth and development are not focus points.
Development needs to occur at every echelon of the workforce – the top, middle, and bottom performance tiers.
Hiring is a blend of art and science. The reality is that those organizations that identify, recruit, deploy, develop and retain the best talent will be the companies who thrive in the marketplace.
Never be done with your hiring and building your team, life is a continuous learning experience for you and the team. Team building and talent development take work and a consistent process, but you will be pleasantly surprised the impact it will make on your business and service.
Do you have a hiring or team building experience to share?
Need some help in capturing more improvements for your staff’s leadership, teamwork, and collaboration? Creative ideas in running or facilitating a team or leadership workshop?
Call today for a FREE consultation or a FREE quote. Learn about some options to scope your job.
Call Mike at 607-725-8240.
All you get is what you bring to the fight. And that fight gets better every day you learn and apply new ideas.
When things are not what you want them to be, what’s most important is your next step. Call today.
Test. Learn. Improve. Repeat.
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Mike Schoultz is the founder of Digital Spark Marketing, a digital marketing and customer service agency. With 40 years of business experience, he blogs on topics that relate to improving the performance of your business. Find them on G+, Twitter, and LinkedIn.
Digital Spark Marketing will stretch your thinking and your ability to adapt to change. We also provide some fun and inspiration along the way. Call us for a free quote today. You will be amazed at how reasonable we will be.
More leadership material from Digital Spark Marketing’s Library:
Much of modern business thinking is centered on understanding the chemistry of what makes effective teamwork tick. And the best way to learn is by doing, as Confucius says.
What works best for teamwork in your business? We would love to hear what it was. Would you do us a favor and post it in the comments section below? It would be greatly appreciated by us and our readers.
The ultimate goal of all the points I list below is this: eliminate the fluff from your marketing strategy and focus only on the things that work.
An important leadership competency for any size organization, the ability to build and lead high performing teams is especially critical in small-to-midsize businesses.
Here, people must work closely together, wear many hats and work effectively across the organization to get tasks accomplished quickly enough to remain competitive.
Related: How Good Is your Learning from Failure?
In order to understand the competencies needed to build and lead high-performance teams, it is helpful to first define a team.
Here is a simple but effective description from The Wisdom of Teams (Harvard Business School Press, 1993.)
“A team is a small number of people with complementary skills who are committed to a common purpose, performance goals, and approach for which they hold themselves mutually accountable.”
More often than not, effective teamwork is built on the following ten teamwork behaviors. We will share with you what actions we recommend for enhancing teamwork most often with our clients:
Seek out employee ideas and initiative. There should almost nothing you shouldn’t share with the employee team.
The more they know, the better decisions they can make. And don’t be afraid to be influenced by their ideas.
Be able to disagree and then reconcile the conflict
Are you accessible to the team? Can they seek you out for help and advice? Do you support debate among team members and then reconcile conflict?
Answering these questions in the positive is critical for awesome teamwork.
Teamwork skills examples … respond to important discoveries
Create a development environment for all the team. Encourage the team to explore and try new things.
A continuous learning environment is the goal and very supportive of team behaviors.
Facilitate a discovery and learning environment
Openly share business information. Encourage questions and participation in discussion and discovery of business decisions.
Support an environment of change
Teach the team it is ok to fail and still take prudent risks. Encourage the exchange of new ideas among team members. Don’t fear occasional experimentation with these ideas.
Team working skills … encourage collaborative relationships
Collaboration is the key to an effective team. Teach collaboration on all tasks with a mini team approach whenever you can.
Enhancing teamwork … share responsibilities
Show you are part of the team. Share your thinking and team responsibilities among everyone. Create backups for all tasks, including your own.
Create an environment where team members can ask for help
This will be a great basis for them to learn, grow, and assume more responsibilities. Your continual coaching is very supportive of showing the team you are open to helping whenever you can.
Takeaways
Across industries, building an effective team is a process, not a destination.
A great team is like an organic being, continually growing and changing to adapt as situations and challenges arise. Remember, teamwork divides the task and multiplies the success.
What do you do to get your teams in the right frame of reference for top performance?
Please share an experience or two with this community.
Need some help in capturing more improvements for your staff’s leadership, teamwork and collaboration? Creative ideas in running or facilitating a team or leadership workshop?
All you get is what you bring to the fight. And that fight gets better every day you learn and apply new ideas.
When things are not what you want them to be, what’s most important is your next step.
Test. Learn. Improve. Repeat.
Are you devoting enough energy continually improving your continuous learning?
Do you have a lesson about making your learning better you can share with this community? Have any questions or comments to add in the section below?
Digital Spark Marketing will stretch your thinking and your ability to adapt to change. We also provide some fun and inspiration along the way.
More reading from Digital Spark Marketing’s Library:
Mike Schoultz is a digital marketing and customer service expert. With 48 years of business experience, he consults on and writes about topics to help improve the performance of small business. Find him on Facebook, Twitter, Digital Spark Marketing, and LinkedIn.
