Businesses exist for many reasons, a big one being to solve problems for consumers or businesses by offering unique services or product solutions that address the problem. To ensure business success, it's essential to create an environment and system that fosters solid teamwork—with people contributing to one or many teams within the organization. That's how it works at LoSasso Integrated Marketing. Every day, we profitably solve complex problems for our clients. And it all starts with our people. Here are 8 thoughts on organizing a team for success.
1. Know what success looks like. Start by asking WHY—why does this team exist—then define what success looks like for the team. Lay it out and clearly define it so all team members understand and are working together towards success. Reinforce what success looks like each time you meet. Break large tasks or issues that are being addressed into smaller chunks and define what success looks like for each step along the way. This will help align the team and move together towards success.
2. It takes a team. We are all wired differently and each of us have unique (some may say "quirky") gifts that we bring to a team. I may sound like I'm stating the obvious here but, two or more people are always better than one for solving problems and increasing creativity. Working in teams increases collaboration and allows for more productive brainstorming. As a result, better ideas are developed and productivity improves.
3. Hire smart people that line up with your core values. Define and know what your core values are. At LoSasso our core values are Passion, Accountability, Creative Insight and Team-Focus—PACT. We hire and evaluate employees based upon our PACT. When someone is a PACT player you know it; and when they're not, it’s obvious. It’s easier to get everyone aligned when the core values are clearly defined and lived out by the organization.
4. Empower everyone. We believe creativity and ideas can come from everyone. Encourage collaboration and communicate to team members that they can make decisions and improvements for your organization if they line up with your core values.
5. Everyone’s a hero. Recognize the contributions of all team members. We have a board in the center of our office—our PACT board. It's where our people recognize their teammates when they go above and beyond, lending a hand or performing exceptionally well. We call these people PACT players, recognizing them publicly and sharing how they’ve positively impacted the team.
6. Traction—EOS plan for success. Find a system, or set of systems, that you believe in to help run your teams. At LoSasso, we are big fans of the book Traction, by Gino Wickman, and have reorganized our business to follow the Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS) he developed for businesses of all sizes.
7. Guardrails with flexibility. The most successful teams operate without strict boundaries. Set the guardrails for expectations and timelines, but allow freedom and flexibility to maximize creativity and progress.
8. Simplify. Face it, we live in a complex world. Keeping things simple helps your team stay focused. We strive to narrow down options, solutions and ideas to three—thinking in threes forces prioritization and focus, and helps teams to create simple, memorable, focused frameworks for plans. You may not land right on three, but the benefit of clear-thinking to simplify will set you down the right path.
Success looks different in every business. What are your thoughts on organizing a great team—we'd love to hear what you would add.
