Module 9 – Assess Your Team’s Development

The people who work with you are a crucial part of your success as a business. You really can’t do it all by yourself anymore, even though you probably started out that way. However big or small your team is currently, now is a good time to take stock.

In this module you’ll look at how your team is working and think about changes you will need to put in place to meet the demands of your up-scaled business.

Your Current Team

You may not have a massive team just yet, but you very likely have at least a virtual assistant or admin assistant, a tech person who helps with your website and other technical tasks, and an accounts person. They may not work full-time or regularly for you – you may use them on an ad hoc basis.

Regardless of your team’s size, they need to support your development and not get in the way of it. You also need to allow them to do the work you need done and not sabotage their output. This happens with some business owners when they resist letting go of control and try to micro-manage their team. This is demotivating for your team and counter-productive for the business, so don’t let that be you.

Take the time now to review your current processes with team members such as communication systems, content development, and other outputs. Answer these questions:

• What’s working well?
• What needs improvement?

When working with a team, you need to aim for:

• Trust – Delegate clearly to them and then trust that the work will be done.
• Clear Goals and Milestones – Make sure you know what you want and that you communicate this to the right person. Add in deadlines so they know what is expected and by when.
• Regular Communication – You need to keep in touch regularly with your team. Depending on what they’re working on for you, this could mean setting up a weekly Skype session or a mid-project review to check progress.
• Human Interaction – If you employ remote workers, they still want to interact with you. It’s motivating for your team to speak with you personally, and you can get to know them better as people, which will build a stronger team.

What needs to change in these aspects of team working?

Evaluate Your Existing Team Members

Before you start thinking you have to hire more people, there may be valuable internal changes you could make to improve the performance of your current team.

You probably hired someone to do one specific operation, but they likely have additional skills and talents that could be useful to your business. Carefully consider each employee’s potential and whether you could train them to take on other tasks.

When you evaluate the people you have on your team now, ask yourself:

• Who is adding value?
• Who has potential?
• Who doesn’t?
• Who needs motivating?
• Could I swap roles around to get more from them?

Some of the changes may have resource implications, so you should consider those as well.

Outsource To Fill Gaps

Even with internal changes, you may need to recruit to augment your existing team. Outsourcing can free you up to focus on growing your business and can fill the gaps on your team as your business grows.

Ask yourself:

• What tasks and processes could you outsource?
• What tasks are you still doing that should be done by someone else?
• What tasks do you no longer wish to do?
• What resources do you need?

Key Takeaways:

• The people you have working for you now should be contributing to your business in a positive way.
• There may be internal changes you can make to improve productivity.
• You might want to consider outsourcing more.

Action Steps:

1. Quick Win: Think about your current team performance and brainstorm what’s working well and what needs improvement.
2. List the members of your team. Take a critical look at their output and ask yourself the questions listed in your Action Guide.
3. Make a list of tasks you are still doing that should be done by someone else or that you no longer wish to do. These are all potential tasks to outsource or delegate to someone else.
4. Make a list of team resources you feel you’ll need in order to grow.