Category Archives for "team building"

As a business leader have you ever caught yourself saying…

‘I wish people would just come to work and do their jobs’.

Having heard this many times in my work with business owners, here’s how I respond:

First, I listen and allow the business owner to vent for a few moments, then I remind them of these three facts:

• They hired, trained, and manage the staff
• The staff works for them
• As the owner they’re ultimately accountable for staff performance

In other words, if they’re not happy with how people are performing in their business it’s on them to fix it.

So the $64,000 Question is: Did they establish clear expectations?

And that’s where these two words come into play:

Responsibility and Accountability.

Responsibility and accountability are the yin yang of performance management. They work well together, but they don’t mean the same things.

When you hear the word “team” what do YOU think of?  As a guy, when I hear the word “team” it conjures images of sports teams. Wikipedia defines “team” as a group of people linked in a common purpose. When we talk about sports teams the common purpose is simple: it’s to WIN. But when it comes to the people you employee in your small business it’s not so obvious.

Sure, you call them your team, but are they really a team? I’d say no, not if they don’t fully understand the common purpose of your business. And let’s say winning is the common purpose of your business, then how do you define winning in the context of your business? Well, I contend that really depends on what you define as your score, and how you share the score with the team.

So, unless you can get it all done in your business by yourself, these are important questions to consider. Especially if you’re the person responsible for the success of your business – I think you know who I’m talking about – you, the leader.