(Last Updated On: June 19, 2023)

 

cover image for 7 hidden reasons why you fail so miserably at building teams

If you are between the ages of 15 and 70 and you have not heard how important building teams is for business, please step off the planet.

 

Are the owner of a small business with 3 or more employees? And you haven’t spared a single thought for building teams?  then please, contact me when you have difficulty growing your business. 

 

Even if you don’t have full time employees, I am guessing that you have built, or you are building teams around you, to help you deliver on your promise to your customers.  If that’s the case, then, how you build those teams matters!

 

But I’m not blaming you if you don’t get team building right. 

 

After over 20 years of working with small businesses and starting and growing my own businesses, I know that many of the reasons why your attempts fail are often quite unclear. 

 

But how do you define “building teams?”

It is simply how you harness and direct the energies and activities of the people working for you, to help you continuously achieve your mission.

 

The problem is that far too often, you don’t know what these activities could be and where the energies are. 

 

And because of this, understandably, you make several key mistakes that frustrate your efforts at team building.

 

So to help you, here are my 7 hidden reasons why your attempts at building teams fail and in the process, cause you much personal and business anguish.

 

If you’re ready, let’s begin…

 

1.  Failure to link key business drivers with building teams 

Every business, however small, has key activities or drivers which are critical to the success of that business.

 

These activities vary from business to business and you must be able to identify yours. For example, they could be any combination of marketing, customer service, production, problem-solving and pricing.

 

Unfortunately, too many of you are not even able to identify these important activities. This is not a good thing for your business because your key drivers go directly and quickly to your bottom line.

 

It follows then, that if you cannot identify your key drivers, you cannot seriously try to build any type of teams, linked to achieving them. 

 

Worst than that, you will only guarantee that your efforts will fail, since they will lack focus and will not strengthen your key business drivers.

 

Here’s how to ensure that you build teams linked to your business drivers.

1.  Identify your key business drivers. If you’re not sure what they are, get your “circle of experience” or your mentor(s) to help you identify them.

2.  Decide on the skills, knowledge and experience you will need to ensure that you deliver on our drivers.

3.  Examine your existing team to determine to what extent what you want is already in your team.

4.  If you have to build a new team, recruit members who has the attributes you want.

5.  Now rely on your leadership skills like assertiveness skills, effective communication and interpersonal skill to build and lead this team.

 

2.  Building teams with unclear and unshared business goals

 

Many of you don’t have clear goals for your business.  

 

Perhaps you don’t know how to set clear goals or you have so many things to do, you don’t have the time.

 

Or, you have set some goals but you have not had a chance to share them with the team. Truth is, you’re not even sure if you want to share them, because you don’t know how long any of them will be sticking around.

 

And I understand your problem in both cases. 

 

Yet, like any good small business owner, you’re actively engaged in trying to forge a team and desperately want it to succeed.

 

To make matters worse…your team appears to be completely unaware of your predicament.

 

So here’s how to give yourself a chance of success. 

 

Set clear goals for your business and then share them with your team. Simple.

 

When everyone is on the same page, team building is a much more meaningful activity. There is buy-in from the team members. And if you don’t get in the way of them sharing their ideas, you will get the very help you need. 

 

3.  Forgetting that a team is made up of real people 

Of course you have to link team development with your key business drivers.

 

And you must focus you team building effort on clear goals, which you have shared with your team. 

 

But there’s something you cannot forget.

 

A team is made up of people. And each person will have their own needs and challenges, which they will expect you to address. They also expect you to do so with empathy and understanding. 

 

What’s more, if you do not pay attention to the individual needs within the team, the team will soon begin to fall apart.  When this happens, it will derail any short-term team business success which you might have achieved.

 

So how do prevent this? What tools can you fall back on to help you now? How can you skyrocket your business

 

First, you can raise the level of your people skills. A good place to start with this is to establish a system (yes I call it a system) of Emotional Intelligence (EQ).

 

Before you dismiss EQ as just another buzz word, here’s a very comprehensive guide to EQ. It is a resource you can refer to repeatedly, to help you lead in a caring and people-centred manner. It’s really worth checking out.

 

Then you can take an HR management approach to developing your people.

 

This is when you try to find out the individual development needs of your staff. Then as far as possible, help them to get what they want, as you go about transforming them into a team.

 

 You will find that this will be a win-win situation for everybody and will help you grow your business rapidly.

 

4.  The Business Owner does not understand his/her dual role

 

I remember being installed as President of my local Toastmasters club some years ago. I can still hear the voice of the Installation Officer urging me to understand that:

…you are a member of your team as well as its leader.

 

When you don’t understand this dual role, you struggle when you try to build strong teams around you.

 

Let me give you an example.  

 

You need to understand and manage diversity to keep the team focused.

 

You have to constantly motivate your team to achieve results while at the same time, you have to find ways to positively renew your own confidence.

 

And on top of that, you have to set the direction or create the grand vision for the business and keep the business on mission.

 

Certainly you cannot be expected to participate in the regular activities of the team as well? 

 

Yes! You are a member of your team as well as its leader.  Remember?  Your attempts at fostering cohesion in your team will fail, if every member of the team, including you, is not involved.

 

You can’t avoid it. You have to walk shoulder to shoulder with your team towards your goals. That is if you want to achieve those goals fast and sensibly. 

 

5.  Not realising that 2 types of teams can exist in your business

 I am willing to bet that like most small business owners, you are unaware that two types of teams can exist in your  business, side by side, without you even realizing it.

 

According to Kevin Eikenberry,  you can have a “football” team and a  “track and field” team to lead, both at the same time.

 

This means that your traditional approaches to leadership will not get the best out of either team nor get you the results you want. 

 

To get the best out of a “football” team, first of all, you have to give each member the right resources. Then you have to make sure that they clearly understand their individual roles and how these interact with those of the other team members. 

 

In other words, they have to be moving together and in the same direction, to reach a “goal.

 

On the other hand, the “track and field” team is made up of all star performers in their own right.  And just like top performers everywhere, once they know what is required of them, they can sort out how to get the job done.

 

Are you getting the picture here?

 

You were completely unaware that you needed to be a football captain and manager of an athletic team at the same time. But you embarked on a hot team building programme. 

 

This was the case with a young businessman who called me for help. He could not understand why even with professional help, he could not get his staff to perform as he wanted. 

 

When we helped him to profile his 20-member team, we discovered he had five “stars” who were labelled as trouble-makers. This was not the case. They were creative, capable of working on their own and very much wanted to.

 

By helping him to understand these issues and redesigning how he lead and work with his team, he was transformed into a very happy leader of a very productive team.

 

6.  Poor/no analysis of the team you might have inherited

 

About 5 years ago, I bought a small, struggling gym. Part of the deal was for me to take over the existing staff.

 

Driven by the need to make back my investment in the shortest possible time, I wanted to be up and running fast. 

 

I know from experience that the team is the life blood of any business.  So, I compiled a list of “people” things I needed to do early and team building was high on the list.

 

So I set about designing a hot team building programme, patted myself on the back…slapped on my big, fat training hat…and then it hit me!

 

Lorna Barrow, how well do you know this team? You inherited it, you did not select it…

 

So I gently exchanged my training hat for my cool, purple, thinking cap and began asking myself these questions:

Do you have a clear understanding of their individual strengths?

Their individual weaknesses?

How do they respond under pressure?

What motivates them individually? Collectively?

Are they really happy with your taking over the business

Will they willingly buy into your vision?

 

You see, the reality is that very often, we do not get to select the team we have to work with.

 

 When this is the case, the next best thing is to make sure you analyse that team properly before you make any attempt to forge them into any unit that will move your vision forward.

 

#5 above should be one of your analysis tools.

 

7.  Failure to get professional help with building teams 

One year ago, you had this wonderful idea to start a business making mud patties, for the little-known but rapidly growing Mud Slinging niche.

 

You are totally focused on the operations and can hardly cope with the demand for the patties. You are surpassing all projections and can only keep up by hiring more and more people.

 

Without consciously realizing it, you now have 35 employees, up from the 7 you started with. But while you are lighting fires under the mud patties, you are constantly outing fires among your employees.

 

How do you deal with this?

 

You’ve puzzled over this question for weeks but you keep coming back to one answer: you need to build these people into some kind of high performing team.

 

So what do you do?

 

You set out to work on it yourself – backed by your lack of skills, knowledge, experience and everything else in this area!

 

And you have the nerve to wonder why you made such a mess of it? 

 

Unless you have experience in team building, or your staff is very small, you should not attempt it on your own. You should get professional help.

 

But here’s the kicker…

 

When you look for professional help, avoid the trap of running to a large firm just because you have the money and they have the name.

 

Find a service provider whose profile mirrors your needs. Make sure they have experience working with small businesses. And feel free to check their credentials with other clients.

 

You want them to be able to identify and explain what’s unique about your situation and be willing to call it as they see it.

 

If you follow these few tips, they will help you to select the right service provider for your team building. Then you will be able to explain how team building succeeds instead of wondering how it fails.

 

Your next “Building Teams” steps  

So I’ve gone and done it! I’ve disclosed 7 hidden reasons why you fail so miserably at building teams.

 

I did it because I see and I feel your frustration when you do everything you know how,  and you staff is not turning into the high-performing, dream team you imagined.

 

But if you read this post all the way through and take the actions suggested, your dreams about your success will come true.  

 

As a smart, small business owner, you no longer have a choice. You have to take the information and jump start your effective team building. Now!

 

And be sure to let me know how it worked out for you…

 

To your success at building teams…

 

 

7 Hidden Reasons Why You Fail So Miserably At Building Teams!

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Lorna Barrow

Lorna Barrow is a Business Breakthrough Specialist, an unfiltered Transformational Speaker, a Writer, a Coach and a self-confessed Small Business Junkie. She recognises that small businesses are unique and when it comes to helping you and your business make that BIG breakthrough, she's all in for you!

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