It’s never easy building teams. It’s even harder to build teams that will last for many years. Yet, research shows- again and again - that if you are successful in building long-term, productive teams you'll be more productive than teams that have high turnover.
Here’s a few tips on how to do just that - build teams over the long-term:
Make sure team members are aligned with their strengths.
Too often, companies are just eager to fill their own needs… and just ‘stick a body’ where they need something accomplished. Over the long-term, employees that are in roles like this often burn out and leave.
One way to help prevent this is to do some basic personality assessment on prospective employees. There are many options - we use both the MBTL and the DISC.
The tools don’t guarantee future success, but they can surely help to determine if an employee is a good ‘fit’
for a particular role that you need filled.
Make sure people are still enjoying their work
You’ve probably seen this before.
Someone is excited and enjoys their work at the beginning of a new role. But …over time they lose steam and don’t enjoy their work as much.
There can be many reasons for this. One of the big ones is that people need change to stay stimulated and productive over time. It may be time to give someone a new opportunity - managing people or just changing their day to day responsibilities.
Or, possibly the person's interests have changed over time. I know I have interested peak and wane overtime. One of the things I’ve done to “gauge” my interest is to take an assessment called the “Strong Interest Inventory”.
If someone isn’t quite as ‘engaged” as they were a couple of years ago - it may not mean they need to be fired. They might just need changes in their day to day routine that are more aligned with their interests.
KEEP AFTER IT
Regardless, you need to stay consistent in building strong teams. People are the main components of teams. People change, teams change. Engage and serve your well to make sure you stay abreast of what your teams need most.