3 Keys to building a world class team

 

Every day you’re working in and on your real estate or banking business. One thing we all have in common is without people none of us can succeed. It’s time to take a step back and see exactly how to build or improve the vital team that makes it all happen and keeps your engine running and hopefully, propels your vision forward while having fun along the way.

One of the biggest tips that I give leaders as they are building an organization is to promote a culture that fosters collaboration and provides organizational clarity. What does that mean? Simply put, the entire organization should know your goals, what’s being done to achieve them and how they can take part in helping reach them.

One of the most important things we can do as leaders is to provide organizational clarity. 

When everybody knows how the company is identifying future success, you create an environment where all parties are invested in and working towards the same goal. In many cases, executives and leadership feel like they should be keeping goals and performance among the leadership team — how much are you risking by sharing revenue, profit, goals, and targets? However, the better question may be how much are you risking by not sharing this type of information. In an effort to protect their team, these kind of leaders ultimately deprive them of participating in the success of the organization. This can eventually lead to a lack of investment and excitement on behalf of the team. How can they celebrate hitting company goals when they don’t know what they were in the first place?

To keep your team informed and headed in the right direction, I am sharing three pieces of advice for any business leader at the top of an organization or leading a team.

BE CLEAR ABOUT THE DIRECTION YOU’RE HEADED.

When you have set clear goals, expectations, and milestones your team can be clear on how you’re going to measure their success. They know what they are working towards which means they can work faster and smarter in the right direction.

BE REALISTIC.

If you’re setting goals that you know are unattainable, then you’re setting your team up for frustration. They could even begin to start lacking trust in the organization. If you instead set goals that are lofty but attainable, you’ll begin to foster a spirit of collaboration and teamwork where everyone will be able to work towards the same goal.

It will be hard.

There will be risk.

It may be difficult to hit it.

… but in the end everyone works hard to contribute to the success of this goal.

What you might be surprised to find is that everyone at all levels of the organization cares about the success of your company. There was a great comment in Keith McFarland’s Book The Breakthrough Company where he talks about Roger Staubach and Staubach Real Estate. Roger was talking about this concept of crowning the company. After being a world-class athlete, many people expected to celebrate him as the business owner, but Roger promoted celebrating the company and its success. That’s definitely what we try to do at our business and by setting realistic goals and having everyone work in the same direction, people actually want to celebrate the company and put the company above themselves.

BE DILIGENT.

Once you’ve created clear goals that are realistic and attainable, but not easy, then you must be diligent in giving your team all the tools they need to help them succeed at being an asset to this final goal. In the book The Ultimate Sales Machine, Chet Holmes reminds us that “you must have a pigheaded discipline and determination.” I think what Chet Holmes means by this is without discipline, determination, and being diligent you simply cannot drive success in an organization.

If you’re looking to build a better team or better empower the team you already have, just remember to be clear with your goals, be realistic about what they are, give your team all the tools they need to succeed, and be diligent to reinforce these goals on a regular basis. By implementing these three-pointers each day you’ll be well on your way to building a world-class team in no time.