Last time we discussed that if you want to accomplish anything, you must build your team. Today we will look at who you should add and why you should seek out certain people.
What Result Do You Want?
The beginning of this process is always the goal. The people you should attract to your team will be determined by your desired outcome. For example, if your goal is to sell 100,000 gallons of house paint, your team will look very different than if you are installing robots in a paint factory.
I can’t stress enough that you must have a clear goal, a defined target, before you begin to build your team. Too often folks get this backwards. They say to their group of friends, “We should start a business or something.” These partnerships too often end in the loss of the friendships and the partners’ money.
Sometimes finding your target is easy; your boss assigns a task complete with a budget and a deadline. Other times you must choose your path. Entrepreneurs, job seekers, recent graduates, and CEO’s all have the freedom to decide. But decisions come hard for some people. There are so many options open to us today that if you consider them all, your mind can actually shut down. It is called “overchoice.”
How can you break through this mental block? Some advocate that you should just start on your journey, learning from your mistakes. “Make mistakes faster,” says Robert Kiyosaki in his books. Then after you fail, you learn and try again. However, it seems this path can get expensive in both money and time. And it might even cost you a marriage or two. However, it is hard to argue with his success.
But I have found that using pen and paper I can list activities and options. Under each option I make columns of advantages and disadvantages. The last two pages I fill out are the projected outcomes. I plot the best case scenario and estimate the chances for great success. Then I fill in the worst case and write in how it would affect my family, health, finances, and reputation.
I talk it over with my wife and trusted friends, I sleep on it, and in just a few days, I’ll know if this is a good target for me.
Leadership
With your goal in hand, you can now focus on the type of people you need. The first question is often overlooked. Are you the best person to lead your team? Often the answer is yes. But sometimes it is better to have a professional leader in place if your technical or leadership skills are not up to the task or you are saturated with other work in your business.
For example, I was the design team leader on a conversion of a 19 passenger commuter airliner into a surveillance platform. The president of the company had better leadership skills, but he didn’t have enough technical background. Besides, he knew that he would be more profitable to the company if he concentrated on sales and marketing. Yet he built the team, kept it motivated and rewarded.
The team leader must understand a little bit about each member’s job and see how the whole fits together. Pick your team leader for their loyalty to you above all, then their leadership skills, and finally for their understanding of the project’ technical challenges. Too often, the best technician is promoted to team leader. However, they almost never have the people skills to motivate and manage the team.
The team leader must keep several factors in mind. In the example of the surveillance plane, there was only so much space, a limited amount of electrical power, and a weight limit. Not to mention, a budget. No matter how much the electrical engineer tried to sell me on a certain system, I knew we couldn’t install it. A surveillance plane is not useful if the weight is so high that you must take off with a partial fuel load and so limit you mission time.
It is the same in any team. The leader must understand the goal, and not get distracted or let any team member sidetrack the project to embrace their pet project.
Team Members
Do not be mislead into choosing only the best qualified or best educated. Soft skills such as perseverance, loyalty, humor, hard work, and the ability to follow instructions rank at least equal to technical abilities. A genius who sows discord in the rest of the team must never be allowed to remain. Find someone else.
While you must choose individuals who share your vision, don’t get clones. If you are an outgoing “people” person, find those who are detail oriented. If you lack organization, find an organizer. Open your eyes to your own weaknesses, and fill those holes with good people.
You will almost always need various experts, workers, a counselor, an accountant, idea people, and someone to handle the bureaucracy.
So now you have decided on your goal and your team leader. But here’s the problem: Most of us don’t get to pick the team members. Our company has assigned a group to this task, and it is up to us to mold them into a team.
That is the subject of the next blog: Recruitment. Just because a person has been assigned does not mean they are on board your team. You will need to recruit each member even if they have been chosen for this team by top management. We’ll also talk about negotiating with your bosses for additional people, converting and inspiring your team, and team discipline.
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