When it comes to running a business, you are only as strong as your weakest employee. Having a team of highly trained, in sync, and supportive employees is every business owner’s dream. However, something like this doesn’t appear of its own accord. You will already have a thorough interview process which filters your applicants down to the best possible fit for your company, and current team of employees. Now you need to introduce this candidate to your way of operating. Doing so allows for unity and direction in your methodology. Below are some key aspects to consider to ensure that your team is working in the best way to facilitate growth and your company’s goals.
Mission Statement and Purpose
You may already have something like this written out on your website; you may not have any idea what these two things are. In short, your Mission Statement is what you do, and your Purpose is why you do it. These can change on a yearly basis to reflect the growth and changing parameters of our business. These can be as long or as short as you like. However, it is advisable to avoid an essay. For instance, KickStarter’s Mission Statement is simply “To help bring creative projects to life.” A couple of sentences that fully encapsulate what your business does is all you need. Your Purpose should build off of that and encapsulate why it is important to your company to operate in this way. Once you have decided on these things, write them down. Display them. Make sure your staff know them. These simple sentences can help unify your company and let everyone involved know exactly how to work and what your business is driving for. Companies like Eurotech can provide a number of ways to display your Statement and Purpose for employees and customers alike to see. You could even display it in your company colors. Once you have put down in writing what it is you do, and why, it removes any ambiguity. This allows everyone to function as a team.
Work Culture
Deciding what kind of culture you want in your company is key to keeping everyone on the same page, it is also the selling point for your business when you are hiring. Your culture is the hours you work, the flexibility you show to employees’ welfare and home-life, the atmosphere when everyone is working. Are your staff enjoying their work, or are they just arriving and getting the job done? Is it supportive, does it allow for personal and professional growth? To a certain extent, the culture can be affected by the individuals you hire, but a large part of your company’s culture is directly controlled by how the management operates and any legislation you have in place. Something as simple as formal or casual uniform, or no uniform at all, can change a company culture dramatically. Consider what is best for you, your business, and your employees.
Team Building Activities and Socials
These are a great way to build unity and comradeship within a company. The exercises can be tailored to show the importance of working together, delegation, and utilizing the best skills and tools for the job. The socials are a chance to unwind, reward hard work, and get to know each other better. When you spend forty or more hours a week at work, it’s important that you get along with your colleagues and know how they operate.
Provide Support
This links in somewhat with the work culture section, but deserves its own space due to the importance of providing adequate support. Unity within a team is based upon a number of different factors, but one of the main ones is trust. You trust your staff to do their jobs well and to keep you informed of any feedback from them or the customers to optimize your business. Your employees trust you to have their best interests at heart and to value their emotional and physical well-being. Having an open-door policy, and guaranteeing confidentiality, can go a long way to building that trust between the management and the employees. It is also crucial to recognize when help may be needed outside of the workplace. Offering an Employee Assistance Program and advertising it publically can help make employees feel valued and supported. Having a notice board, or posters that also provide information about stress, anxiety, and depression can help your staff notice and seek help for these conditions before they become debilitating.
Hopefully, these ideas have helped to provide a framework for you to implement in your company, to facilitate growth and an optimized workforce. Mutual respect, trust, accountability, and a common purpose, can all help unite your staff, allowing your business to drive forwards into the future.
