The most important thing to create a successful team

Welcome to episode 23 of Power Up Your Team podcast.  Today, I want to talk about the most important thing you can give to your team so they are engaged and help you drive your business forward. 

And I am not talking about the paycheck or benefits which are also important because most of us have to work to earn a living.

As business owner you want your people to do more than just show up for their bi-weekly paycheck. You have created a fun and open office atmosphere.  As a leader, you are friendly and approachable. And you have the feeling that everyone genuinely likes to work for you. 

But you are finding yourself burning the midnight oil a couple of nights a week. You are doing a lot of planning, thinking and worrying by yourself. You just don’t have time for strategic thinking during normal business hours.  And you are wondering why that is. 

So try this. Next day you are in the office, engage with team members and find out how much they understand of the bigger picture. Ask a couple of questions: 

• Why are we (enter your company name) in business? What is our purpose?
• Where do we want to take the business? What are our most important priorities?
• What is the purpose of your specific role? How does your role relate to other roles?

 If they don’t know the answer, or, everyone has a different perspective, you have work to do.

People need context and knowledge about the business as a whole, so they can engage their minds above and beyond the routine tasks they are performing every day. They need information to make decisions and take action.

Here’s the point: 

The most important thing you can provide to help your people help you is Clarity 

Go inside yourself and reflect on why you selected to be in your line of business. What is it that you want to achieve beyond financial success? What is you mission and what difference do you want to make? 

For example: An insurance agency owner who has a mission of “Helping people protect what they value so they can have peace of mind” is driving a higher sense of purpose than someone who simply says “ we are here to sell polices”. The latter sounds pretty dull in comparison, doesn’t it?

Then make sure everyone understands where you want to take the business. Share your strategic goals and the most important work that needs to get done to achieve them. Check out episode 3 “Don’t lose your team on your road to success”, where I discuss why your team is the most important stakeholder of your strategic plan. 

Also, you need to create transparency about how your business operates end-to-end so people understand their role in the context of other roles. 

Read on at www.PowerUpYourTeam.com/23 to find out about one  key insight related  to creating clarity.