Dave Kosmayer July 10, 2021 
If you are reading this, you probably have a small business. You also probably recall the hard work and long hours that happened to get you where you are now. You’re now at the point of profit and success and you’re ready to start building your team, so give yourself a pat on the back. However, finding the right people to join your small business might be as hard as starting it.
Building a solid team for your small business isn’t just about finding and hiring the right people for each role. It’s about much more than that… Like shifting your responsibility and creating the perfect company culture.
Here are some ways you can build your perfect dream team to bring your business to the next level…
Create Your Culture
It’s hard to think of anything that isn’t intertwined with culture. So before anything, identifying your company culture is the first step before beginning your hiring process.
But, easier said than done, right? It always is.
Every small business has its own well-defined culture, shaped by its values, priorities, the people who work there, and much more. So you need to ask yourself, what is your company culture?
What are your values? Goals? Methods? Priorities?
These are all things that you’ve either thought about or quickly should because they’re all essential elements in defining a company’s culture. These elements mix together the makeup of a company’s everyday environment—its work culture. Before you begin building your team, you must identify the culture you want those team members to embrace.
Unlike other aspects of business, culture is harder to teach. People will either fit in, or they’ll feel out of place and pull the team in a different direction. So before you look for people, consider the culture you’re building. And then identify the habits of employees who will help you win.
Find Your Fit
Now that you have your company culture, you need to carry this around like an umbrella on a rainy day. This should be the root of how you find people to join your small business journey. We can’t stress this enough. Finding the right people to care enough about your company isn’t easy.
Too often, you see companies establishing their culture and only focusing on skills or experience when hiring. Now, don’t get us wrong, but skills and experience can most of the time be taught—passion and personality can’t.
Although it should be obvious, it’s worth emphasizing: expertise shouldn’t be your only deciding factor when choosing a person for your team.
What you do need to do is find people that are as passionate as you are. Make sure each person you choose for your team fits the culture that you identified earlier. Find the folks who sleep, eat, and breathe your vision. The ones who treat the dream as their own. You are not looking for the most skilled person in the field. You are looking for a person who aligns with your dream.
Embrace Your Weaknesses
Now it’s time to tell us all the things you are bad at. No, we’re not trying to make you cry, and yes, we’re still trying to help your small business grow.
So, think of the most successful companies out there—EVEN they have weaknesses. The same goes for every individual person. Where someone may have a weakness, another person may have a strength. Try to look for people that fill each other’s skill gaps.
Understanding your weaknesses is just as important as understanding your strengths. By realizing and highlighting your own weaknesses, you can hire those around you with the strengths to help fill the gaps.
Make Your Milestones
As humans, we ask a lot of questions. Most of the time, these questions revolve around where we are going and when we are getting there. And, as a small business owner, you need to know these answers.
What does success look like for you?
In other words, what are the goals and priorities, and how are we going to measure progress along the way? When everyone is on the same page and guided towards the same goals, you are on the right track. Once people start diverting from their set goals and milestones, you’ll see a decline in productivity.
Determining these goals and priorities and how they will be measured is arguably the most critical job of a team leader because most of the work that everybody does will flow from those goals.
Strengthen Your Diversity
One of the fantastic things in the world is diversity, and this stands true for companies also.
I definitely made it clear earlier that hiring people with the same mindset as your company culture is vital. But also, and perhaps even more critical, and I cannot stress enough, diversity is what drives success for any small business.
When it comes to building your small business, your team should be as diverse as possible—different education, experiences, ethnicities, genders, ages, and opinions. Just remember that our strengths stand in our differences, not in our similarities.
Up Your Onboarding
Woohoo! You won the lotto. I mean, you found the perfect person to join your small business, which in fact, feels like you hit the jackpot.
But we aren’t out of the woods yet. As much as they nailed the interview process, you still need to onboard that employee and successfully bring them into your culture and new role. How do you up your onboarding, you ask? Try these!
- Provide your business guidelines that help introduce them to the company, your mission, and the team’s goals.
- Provide a training booklet specific to each person and role at your small business and be taught by people who have hands-on experience in the field.
- Set the pace and get them started right away. You hired this team to work, and most of the time, people want to dive right in.
- Give new hires some time for fun with everyone. Maybe a team lunch the first week or something relaxed. I just ask you for one thing, JUST. SAY. NO. TO. CHEESY. TEAM. BUILDING. ACTIVITIES.
Take Your Time
Breathe. And take your time.
Fast is fine, but is fine good enough for the small business you have worked so hard on? We all know it’s better to take your time, and we all know sometimes that slips our minds when we are stressed or eager.
Let me repeat it, take your time.
A winning team can’t be built in a matter of hours. Like anything else that’s good, a winning team takes time and patience to make- so don’t rush the process.
This time say it with me, take your time
Especially when talking to people, when teaching people, and even when listening to people. Just like they need time to grow into your vision, you need time to reflect on the process. Ultimately, you need to give yourself and your team the time necessary to succeed.
Key Takeaways
Honestly, you are done with the most challenging part—starting a small business and growing it, so be really proud of that. And all these pieces will help you take one step in front of the other. You have worked so hard to be where you are, don’t rush this step and bring in anyone that may break this for you.
It’s that time to sign off, and I hope you come back next week for our next blog to help upgrade you and your website.
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