A strong foundation brings the biggest success.

Making a team is not a matter of just collecting people of caliber and putting them to work. Rather, a team is a group of people working towards a common goal. Therefore, you have to consider certain parameters before building a new team so that you can meet the goals of the organization.

This article can help new managers understand the foundational qualities of a team-building process. At the same time, those people, who are already managing a team, can benefit from this article to better their team coordination and output.

In the natal stage of a startup, new managers find it difficult to handle a new team. Here are some guidelines on how to build a good team.

Define your goal

Before taking the responsibility of building a new team, make sure you introspect on the goals of your upcoming team. Once the goals are clear, execution will become much smoother. Defined goals will establish a common niche for all the team members to act on. When you have your goals set, it gives a sense of unity to the team which is of utmost importance to reap good results.

The goals you set should be SMART. SMART stands for specific, measurable, accessible, relevant, time-bound.

Let us understand with the help of an example.

Let us say, your goal is to save money. Now, there is a sense of ambiguity in this goal. Rather, saying that you want to save $10000 in a year is a SMART goal. This goal is specific and measurable as you have a definite amount in it and you can measure that amount. Also, this is a time-bound goal. The accessibility of the goal depends on your current financial situation. So, this goal does justice to the criteria.

SMART goals are easy to set but it can be a little difficult to follow through them. But if you formulate a proper strategy and stay determined, then you can achieve all your goals.

Make a strong foundation

All great things take time. So, do not rush into building a great team in one day. You have to build your team brick-by-brick. Since we can not have everything prim and proper at once, you can take small steps in building infrastructure and other processes simultaneously as you build your team.

A strong foundation will save you from the future hassle and give you good long-term results. Taking one thing at a time will help you in shifting direction and making required changes along the way as you keep growing.

Hiring the right resource is paramount

As a manager, hiring is one of your most important responsibilities. After all, the people working on your team can create all the difference.

Now, you can hire the right people after being clear about your requirements. You need to consider a few factors before starting the hiring process.

Skill set requirements

Hiring people with the right skills and talents is the first step for building an impeccable team. Once you are clear about your objectives, shortlist the skill sets required to achieve those objectives.

Following are some points you should give a thought to filter out the appropriate skill set.

• Ponder on what will determine your success: managing costs, hitting timelines, creative abilities or something else?
• What kind of technical expertise do you need?
• What kind of experience or judgment will help your company?

After having clear answers to these questions, you can now have a list of skills that will work for you. You can start examining names after a proper skill-based analysis.

Behavioral requirements

Correct behaviors are very important when building a new team from scratch. A candidate with perfect skills might not be very feasible to work with. What if he is difficult to communicate with?

What if he is bad at meeting deadlines?

You can train people for their skills but amending behaviors are next to impossible. You have to profile the candidates not only based on skill but also based on behavior.

How do you define what behavior is right for your team?

Identify the kind of team you are handling. If it is a cross-functional team, you probably want people who are good communicators. If it is a global team, you

might need people with a global mindset who respect the cultural ideologies and behaviors of others.

A positive team dynamic has to be a collaboration of skill sets and behaviors conducive to achieve the set goals of your company.

Set some ground rules

Now when you have clarity about your goals and you have figured out the skills and behaviors your team should possess, you can start laying some ground rules. These ground rules should include the most simple things like punctuality is important.

These rules will act as your company charter and establish a standard for the team. All the team members will adhere to this charter to maintain efficiency and decorum. You can always make amends in these rules if the need arises.

These ground rules have two major benefits:

• They can help you with screening potential candidates who want to join your team. During the interview process, you can ask them if they are ready to work as per these regulations.
• Once your team is formed, you can revisit these ground rules to resolve any disagreements.

Listing Names

Now when you are clear about your goals, skill sets, behavioral qualities, and rules, you can start naming names. Now, you are in a position to select that perfect candidate who does not only looks promising at the outside based on his skill set. Rather, you can choose the right person who can adopt the whole work dynamic and at the same time perform.

Do not overlook the fact that people working on a team need not be the best of friends. They can be professionally compatible in a way that they are great as a team even if they part their ways at the end of the day.

Get consensus on the team plan

Remember, each person in the team is important and should feel so. As a manager, you have to give importance to each person’s opinion. So, bring everyone together and discuss the team plan with them. People should understand the vision with which they have been brought together and what they are heading towards.

Everyone should be on the same page when it comes to understanding the goals, objectives, rules and, plans of the team. Make sure everybody can relate to your plan and if they agree to disagree on something, always lend them an ear.

A manager’s role does not end with the compilation of talented and willing to work people together. An effective team takes a lot more effort. Here are a few points that will help new managers maintain the effectiveness of their budding teams.

Strong leadership

A strong leader leads by example. Preaching great ideals and not practicing any will never leave an impression on others. People on your team will always walk the extra mile for you if they think that you are worth it as a leader.

A strong leader is transparent. Effective leaders do not impose authority on others in an authoritarian manner. They develop trust through a transparent and honest approach. Being a leader, you should be approachable so that every team member has a rapport with you.

Invest in a project management tool like ProofHub

When a team works on a project, it can be difficult to collaborate and keep a track of the progress of the project. Meetings and keeping track records manually can be very tedious and time-consuming.

Project Management Software is the best bet you can make to help your budding team collaborate well and co-ordinate in a better way. It can prove to be bliss when it comes to delivering your projects on time.

ProofHub is a project management software that has all the features to help you plan, collaborate, organize and deliver projects on time. Your team can communicate with one another most effectively with ProofHub.

Here is a list of features that ProofHub provides and how they can make your project management super easy.

Click here and get your free trial of ProofHub now.

Discussions

With this feature, you can carry out all important discussions with your team at one central place. People can share their ideas, suggestions, files, and documents at one place without having to deal with lengthy email threads.

Discussions can help you save a lot of time and confusion by acting as a wonderful tool for team collaboration.

Kanban boards

A Kanban board is another win-win situation in ProofHub. You can assign tasks to multiple people at once and track the progress of these tasks. This is how it provides a clear distribution of responsibilities thus bringing structure in the whole process of project management.

You can divide tasks into subtasks and assign different parts to different people. You can prioritize and differentiate tasks as per your requirements.

Gantt charts

Gantt chart is another effective tool that provides task management through visual representation. Using one Gantt chart software, you can set task dependencies, track progress, associate milestones, highlight critical paths and find all your Gantt data at a central place.

Apart from these, ProofHub provides another important task management features like a calendar, a central place to keep all your files, notes for storing important chunks of information, announcements, etc.

A project management tool can bring your entire world of projects under one roof. It polishes all your channels of communication and fulfills all your project related requirements.

Now when you know all about what a good team needs, let us have a look at some team building mistakes which should be avoided at any cost.

1. A team fails when you forget to see that everyone is different and every individual can contribute differently and uniquely in the team.
2. Never prefer some people in the team over others, it will sow resentment in people.
3. Not being approachable as a leader can be a bottleneck in the growth of your team.
4. Though you need to be friendly and approachable as a leader, flouting of rules and regulations should never be ignored.
5. Allowing unhealthy competition within the organization will sprout bad professional relationships.
6. Appreciation does not always mean monetary rewards, praise and encouragement can make a difference.

Wrapping Up

In a nutshell, great teams are built with many ingredients used in the right amount. These ingredients are not only about getting the basics of team building right, rather, the availability of the right tools and software like ProofHub also makes a whole lot of difference in how your team performs.

Switch to ProofHub and make productivity a habit.

We would love to hear from you if this article was useful. Also if you have any more tips on team building, do let us know in the comment section below.

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