6 Steps to Take If Your Small Business is Running Out of Money
It’s always worrying when you notice that your small business’ bank account is running low. Whether you’re scaling up or simply going through a quiet period, negative cash flow can take a significant toll on the financial health of your business. Hard times don’t have to spell the end for your enterprise, however. It’s time to re-evaluate your current practices and employ some of the following steps to ensure that your bank balance bounces back.
1. Re-Evaluate Your Pricing Structure
Difficult financial times are a sure sign that it’s worth reconsidering your pricing structure and making some changes. You may be undervaluing your services and selling yourself short. Take time to consider the value you provide and research your competitors’ rates, too.
Of course, your existing customers won’t be happy if you hike up your prices overnight. It’s fine to charge new customers higher prices from the get-go, but implement more gradual price changes for your existing customers and give them plenty of notice. You deserve to get paid what you’re worth, but during difficult times the last thing you want to do is aggravate your entire customer base!
2. Cull Your Software Subscriptions
Over time, software subscriptions mount up, and many business owners continue paying for software that they’ve ceased to use. Make a list of your subscriptions and only carry on paying for those who truly deliver value to your business. You’ll be surprised how much money this simple step can save you, especially over the course of several months.
3. Reduce Your Wage
For short-term cash flow issues, taking a smaller wage as a business owner can help to smooth things over. Obviously, you deserve to get paid, but foregoing a chunk of your salary for a month or two may be able to protect your business’ bank balance until cash begins to flow more freely again.
4. Go Green
Power usage tends to be one of the highest costs for a small business, so cutting down on energy costs can really help you to save money. Installing energy-saving bulbs, investing in insulating blinds, and replacing paper towels with hand dryers can significantly reduce your monthly energy bill.
5. Shorten Your Payment Schedule
Many businesses allow their customers or clients up to 90 days to pay invoices, but it’s time to reduce this window if your funds are dwindling. Cash flow is just as important as profit to the survival of your business, and if you run out of available funds now, getting paid in two or three months won’t help you much. Consider shortening your deadlines to 30 days or less to improve your cash flow and create a more continuous stream of funds.
6. Don’t Depend on a Handful of Customers
Of course, loyal customers are important to any small business, but becoming overly reliant on a small number of customers puts your business at risk. In this situation, losing a single customer can do significant damage to your finances, so don’t put all of your eggs in one basket.
Do nurture your existing customers and encourage them to spend more, but make sure your entire organization doesn’t depend on repeat business from one or two sources. Taking on just a few new, smaller clients can really help when your bank account is suffering.
Summary
A dwindling bank account is never good news for a small business, but it’s not necessarily a death toll. By taking action today and implementing the above money-saving steps, you can get your business back in the green and improve your profitability and cash flow.
5 Powerful Growth Strategies for Your Small Business
Every business owner starts out brimming with motivation and enthusiasm, and yet according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, 20% of small businesses fail within the first year. Jump ahead to five years, and that number rises to a terrifying 70%. These numbers are alarming, but that doesn’t mean you should throw in the towel just yet. It’s important to put a strong business growth plan in place to make it past the first year goalpost and continue to grow. You need to know what to do when your business hits a plateau and how to accelerate business growth so that you’ll see success sooner. Here are five powerful strategies to ensure that your small business grows.
1. Increase Market Penetration
Market penetration means the sales volume of a good or service in relation to its total target market. Increasing your market penetration should, in turn, increase your market share for the product or service that you are selling. Ramping up your advertising efforts and creating attractive promotional offers are two reliable ways to increase market penetration. Broadening the range of products or services that you offer may also prove effective.
2. Market Development
If your market has been saturated or you’re struggling to attract customers in your local area, it’s time to think about market development. Market development means finding new customers for your current products. This could mean B2B marketing, promoting your products to a different demographic, or expanding into international markets.
For example, a spa might consider selling its signature products via a local supermarket or cosmetics store. Similarly, a restaurant owner might expand to offer catering for private parties and business conferences.
3. Expand Your Product Line
Expanding your range of products or services can prove hugely beneficial and make your business significantly more appealing to your target market. It’s a great way to refresh customer interest and generate a buzz that will help to attract new customers, too.
Of course, it could be that you already offer a large range of products. If this is the case, consider taking a look at how much revenue each product brings in and phase out weaker-performing items to make room for new products to excite your loyal customers.
4. Marketing Channels
If your marketing efforts aren’t bringing in business, it’s time to consider changing the channel. This doesn’t mean abandoning your current efforts, but it’s always worth investigating new ways to reach your target customers.
Most small businesses use email, social media, and a company website. If you aren’t already employing these three marketing channels, then it’s time to do so. If you are regularly using all three channels to communicate with your customers, ask yourself the following questions:
- Are the emails clear and engaging?
- Is the website content-rich, or does it simply show your opening hours and contact details?
- Do you show up on social media every day or once in a blue moon?
On top of this, it’s time to consider further expanding your marketing channels. Here are some of the most popular and cost-effective marketing strategies that many small businesses are capitalizing on:
- Video content
- Influencer marketing
- SEO
- Podcasts
5. Segmentation
Market segmentation means dividing your market into various groups and creating targeted campaigns to appeal directly to each group. The most effective marketing is specific rather than general; you can’t be all things to all people.
You may want to divide your market up by:
- Location
- Age
- Gender
- Profession
- Behaviour
- Interests
Of course, you will need data to be able to create the above segments. Email surveys, site analytics, and customer purchase history are enormously helpful for this. It may be worth employing a CRM tool to accurately optimize your segmentation process, as this can save you a lot of guesswork and person-hours.
Summary
If you’re struggling to grow your small business, then the above strategies, when employed correctly, should help you to grow at a steady and sustainable rate. Of course, the effectiveness of the above strategies will depend on the needs of your specific business. For example, a business with a large customer base will benefit more from segmentation than one with a few big customers. Take some time to sit down and develop a realistic plan for your specific business and monitor your progress carefully to help you optimize growth.
The Fear of Money and Four Ways to Overcome Your Money Blocks
Few people are wizards at making money. But it IS possible for anybody to get rid of their money blocks.
Businesses exist to make money. But even with that goal in mind, it doesn’t mean it’s an easy ride to the top.
Money blocks are all too real and common in personal and business finance. Learning to overcome them is an essential thing to do early on.
Here are four ways to help you overcome your own fear of money.
1. Acknowledge the Fear
As is the case with any fear, the first step to overcoming money fears is recognizing it. Do that, and it becomes easier to identify what’s actually scary.
Do you fear the thought of losing money? Or do you fear not making enough money?
Acknowledging your fear, whatever it may be, helps identify the real underlying issue.
2. Ask for Help
Whether it’s personal or business finances, there’s always someone out there that knows more.
People who hit money blocks and develop a fear of money are those that never ask for help. But there’s no shame in asking someone more qualified about what you can do in this regard.
Accountants, financial advisors, successful investors, and entrepreneurs are all people who may help. Salespeople and professional marketers can also provide insights into specific money problems.
3. Ask for Money
Are you not generating enough revenue? If so, why not consider asking for money?
Do your due diligence on potential partnerships, investments, and loans.
In some cases, overcoming a money block requires an influx of capital from outside sources. It may not seem like the most appealing idea, but it is an option.
4. Develop New Money Habits
Sometimes, the best way to overcome a block is to step outside the comfort zone.
People run into money blocks because they are fixed in their ways. That’s why making adjustments and developing new money habits can help overcome the fear of money.
It will take work and time. But you already know that one’s mindset can’t be changed in an instant.
The idea is to try new things and make progress. After all, small successes add up and can alter the mindset.
Taking Action
The fear of money and money blocks don’t always cast a veil on what needs to change. It’s possible to identify solutions and still not overcome fear.
Why?
It’s because the fear of failure can also creep in. When that happens, people refuse to take action and make the required positive changes.
Tackling the fear head-on is always a good thing. Identify what action you should take and pull the trigger to break through the money block.
Learn to Overcome Common Money Myths
There are well-founded fears in the world. But when it comes to entrepreneurs and business owners, the line between facts and myths involving money is not all that clear sometimes.
It’s vital to learn more about the economic environment as those without knowledge of this area can fall prey to money myths.
They can end up creating entirely fictional and impossible scenarios for why they have money blocks. That’s also why it’s difficult to see the solution when the issue doesn’t have a strong foundation to stand on.
The OKR Goal Setting Framework - What Is It And How Can You Use it When Setting Goals for Your Firm
Positioning a business for growth isn’t easy. It takes a combination of knowledge, skill, and focus at all levels.
Business leaders have the hard task of getting everyone aligned with the big picture vision of the company.
To do that, every person in a leadership position needs a good blueprint or plan. Some frameworks excel in this particular area more than others, and the OKR is a great example.
What Is the OKR Framework?
The OKR (objectives and key results) framework revolves around setting ambitious goals that you can track over a quarter. It helps companies establish and reach more difficult objectives in shorter periods of time.
Although created in the early 70s, it was John Doerr, one of Google’s earliest investors, who made it famous in the 90s. And to this day, the tech giant still relies on the OKR framework for setting future targets.
Benefits of the Framework
One of the biggest appeals of the OKR framework is its ease of use and implementation.
It’s a framework that allows for transparency and helps shift the focus on the right objectives or obstacles that need moving.
Business owners and leadership experts also prefer it as it has minimal impact on company culture and can boost employee productivity.
How to Set an OKR Framework
This framework has a simple five-step process from start to finish:
- Introducing the concept to the team
- Identifying objectives
- Identifying desirable results
- Analysis and review
- Feedback
It all starts with explaining to the team the core concept of the OKR framework. The results may be hard to hit, but that’s not a problem as long as you can track progress towards them.
After that, it’s critical to go through a brainstorming process. Look at the company objectives and discuss with team members to find aspirational objectives aligned with the company goals.
The hardest part is usually identifying the key results. However, it’s essential to determine the measurable outcomes and look at the results instead of the actual tasks.
For example, if increasing profits by 10% is the objective, the key results aligned with that goal could be cutting back on expenses or launching seasonal campaigns and promotions to double revenue.
The review and analysis stage is where you can get a better understanding of the key results. If you find them too easy to reach, by all means, go ahead and tweak them. After all, the idea of OKR is to come up with ambitious goals that aren’t easy or comfortable to reach.
The OKR framework also calls for feedback. Transparent communication between those involved in the execution of the plan is vital.
The End Result
The OKR framework does four things for a business:
- Helps measure performance
- Aligns employee interests with company goals
- Offers quality feedback
- Delivers results
This makes it one of the best ways to position a company for growth. It places the focus on the right objectives on the part of both leadership and employees.
4 Ways Your Startup Can Boost Profitability in the Wake of the Pandemic
There’s no denying that the covid-19 pandemic has been a difficult time for startup enterprises. If the past year or so has proven anything, it’s that the agile organisations are the ones who are set to survive. There are ways you can boost profitability during these uncertain times, and it’s not all about cutting costs, either. By restructuring your business strategy, you can adapt your organisation to the new normal and emerge from the covid crisis more profitable than ever.
Use an FX Broker
The global pandemic means that more business than ever is being carried out digitally, which opens you up to more overseas trade opportunities. However, business owners often overlook the cost of foreign currency exchange (FX), and it really adds up over time.
Processing international payments is pricey; on average, a bank will charge you 3-7% of the transfer volume, seriously eating into your profit margin. Even with companies such as Amazon or PayPal, you can expect to pay 3.5-4% in FX fees per transaction.
Using a business FX broker can save you a significant sum of cash in transaction fees. In addition, they often offer hedging and currency counseling to help you mitigate the risks of fluctuating international currency values. Best of all, they can reduce your international payment fees to less than 1% of the total transfer volume, saving you 33-80% of what you were previously paying. Reliable foreign exchange brokers to use include:
- CMC Markets
- Interactive Brokers
- FOREX.com
Tell Your Brand’s Story
Storyteller marketing is a powerful tool that, when done correctly, can help startups build a loyal fanbase. Telling your story will create an emotional connection with your audience. Remember to position your audience at the center of your brand narrative so that they really feel part of your community.
Brand storytelling isn’t posting a single blog about how you got started. You need to figure out the story you want to tell and then do so through as many different mediums as possible, from Facebook ads to Instagram stories and even the community organisations that you support.
This type of marketing cultivates brand loyalty which helps to increase customer retention. This is great news for your profitability. In fact, a study by the Harvard Business Review found that existing customers are 60-70% more likely to buy than new ones, and spend significantly more - 33%, on average
Get Personal
Customer acquisition is difficult during a pandemic so in order to boost profitability you’re better off focusing on increasing customer retention and customer spending. Whilst many people have been hit hard by the pandemic, that’s not true for everybody. In fact, the lockdown has meant that those who have remained employed have accumulated savings. Therefore, you should focus on increasing the price of the average customer order to increase profit.
One effective way to do this is to launch more personalized services. The current climate breeds uncertainty and fear, and thus a personalized service feels much safer and more comfortable. In addition, personalized service will increase customer satisfaction, thus strengthening your retention rates, too.
Hiring a Quality Bookkeeper
We don’t know exactly what will happen to the economy as the world begins to recover from the pandemic, but it’s certain that big changes are coming in one form or another. The way we shop has changed and so has the way we do business. This will undoubtedly have far-reaching economic consequences for all startups. Furthermore, the economic impact of the pandemic means taxes are likely to rise, presenting a new set of challenges for small business owners.
All of this means that there really has never been a more prudent moment to enlist the help of a quality bookkeeper. Now more than ever, small businesses need the help of an expert to navigate these uncertain financial waters and absorb the impact of these changes. A bookkeeper will be able to help you keep on top of new taxation rules, save you significant money, and help you to make smart financial decisions to stay profitable in the face of rapid market shifts.
Summary
By focusing on building brand loyalty through storytelling and personalized service, startups are able to increase their customer retention rates and thus their profitability. Meanwhile, the services of FX brokers and quality bookkeepers can significantly increase profit margins and protect against economic changes. Whilst it’s true that the covid-19 pandemic has presented huge challenges for almost every startup business, making smart decisions now can help your business to increase your profitability and ensure your survival.
How to Automate Invoicing and Get Paid Faster
Why create the same invoices over and over again when you can automate the process? Check out the best practices in invoice automation.
Business owners know that time is money. So why spend a lot of time on repetitive tasks when you can automate them?
With the help of technology, you can automate invoicing, a necessary but time-consuming everyday task for many businesses that bill their customers. You can not only save time but perhaps even get your invoices paid sooner.
In that light, this article will explain the basics of invoice automation and its benefits.
Use Automatic Email Reminders
One of the biggest problems that many small businesses have, especially those that extend credit, is late payments.
Thankfully, collecting on invoices and accounts receivable no longer has to be done manually these days. You can rely on an email automation software package to generate and send all kinds of reminders. This means you won't have to worry and waste precious human resources on sending those emails.
There are three types of email reminders you can use.
Some companies send a friendly reminder before the invoice due date.
However, the most popular reminder is when an invoice becomes due. The software keeps track of due dates and will automatically send customers with unpaid accounts a reminder.
Finally, there's also the reminder that gets sent out to overdue accounts. Some business owners or accounts receivable departments may not feel comfortable calling clients to chase after unpaid invoices. The good news is that the software can follow up on all unpaid invoices on your behalf.
Create Recurring Invoices
Many businesses send the same invoices over and over again. Companies that sell membership and subscription services are good examples of such businesses.
But why manually create the same invoice every month when you can create a recurring invoice once and schedule when to send it?
It's even possible to schedule it for any time and any number of customers.
Maybe you have to send the same invoice on the first day of every month, or maybe every Monday. The software can handle everything and do whatever you want it to do.
Schedule Future Invoices
Yes, it is possible to schedule future invoices, too.
When sales information is still fresh in your mind, you can create invoices and schedule a future time and date when you want them to be sent out. Your automation software will do the rest.
Details like this can not only help busy entrepreneurs save time but also declutter their minds. You can do what you have to do, and the software will take care of everything else later.
Automation Saves Time
Smart business owners don't waste time and resources on repetitive tasks. Why would they, when there are all these amazing automation tools around?
Invoicing is one of the first processes that a business owner should consider automating, especially if there’s a need to schedule when to generate and send invoices.
A good email automation software can help in this regard and instantly increase your company’s productivity. If you don’t have one yet, just the reasons above should be enough to convince you of the benefits of getting one.
Should You Outsource Your Bookkeeping?
It might be tempting to try and do the bookkeeping yourself. But getting a team of experts could save you precious time and resources.
Some businesses have internal solutions for financial management. And in smaller companies, even the owners themselves can weigh in and tackle the task.
Such an approach could work for the business for a while. But it might not be the best option, especially once the company starts growing.
To answer the titular question, it’s more ideal to outsource your bookkeeping, or at least consider doing so. Here are the essential reasons why outsourcing might be a good idea.
Reason #1. Time Efficiency
Your team already has a list of responsibilities. If you don't have a dedicated accounting team, your team will probably spend their precious work hours taking care of the financials.
The time your team spends on accounting tasks means you get less time to focus on your company's vital operations, such as improving sales or bringing in new leads.
Additionally, if neither you nor your employees are trained or experienced, dedicating company resources to such tasks can be considered wasteful. You're diminishing your business capacity and distracting your team with a job outside their skill set instead of focusing on your strong points.
Outsourcing will save you time and get your financials in order sooner. Simply put, leave the books to the professionals.
Reason #2. Decreased Costs
If you consider hiring an employee solely for bookkeeping, or you've already done that, notice that outsourcing could save you a significant amount of money.
There are indications that companies hiring accountant agencies save around 40% of the costs compared to those that have in-house accounting.
The calculation is very straightforward – by outsourcing your bookkeeping, the only cost you have is the service price. On the other hand, keeping a full or part-time employee comes with additional expenses, not to mention taking away various resources better spent elsewhere.
Reason #3. Lesser Risk of Fraud
Small and medium-sized companies suffer significant losses due to employee fraud.
Larger businesses have better control over their metrics, with dedicated departments that monitor all transactions. A small business will usually lack this kind of control, which results in a higher risk of fraud.
When you decide to outsource your bookkeeping, your company gains access to an affordable CFO service that will have no problems detecting fraud signs. You can get an objective analysis of the financials as the bookkeeper is entirely independent of your company.
Reason #4. Professional Service
Professional bookkeepers have an obvious advantage in financial dealings - they know accounting. Your business will be in safe hands by using a service that's well-familiar with all relevant codes and laws.
From a technical standpoint, a bookkeeping firm will have every resource necessary to perform the job - from expert employees to the best accounting software. These resources won't be available to your company without additional expenses and hefty time investment.
Finally, a bookkeeper could offer you some useful, impartial advice that you couldn't get from anyone other than an expert.
Focus on Business, Not on Accounting
Once the burden of accounting is lifted from your shoulders, you can expect work efficiency to improve in several ways.
Outsourcing your bookkeeping is cost-effective, saves time, and lets you focus on the more important matters where you and your team can be the most productive.
Three Tips for Improving Your Organisational Skills
Organisational skills are vital to the success of any company or individual. Check out three ways to improve them today.
Everyone who wants to run a business or manage a team has to develop excellent organisational skills. And sometimes, organisational skills and time management are more important than knowledge.
Such skills are not something you're born with, either. In fact, everyone can improve their organisational skills with a little practice. Here's how you can practise and improve those skills.
Start with Planning
Some of the most successful people in the world wake up before anyone else so that they can plan their day in relative calm. Everything starts with a good plan, after all.
It's essential to take time every morning to organise your day, and one of the best ways to organise your tasks is to sort them by their priority. There are plenty of other ways too, so everyone can find what works for them.
It's also important to plan out your weeks. But if one can't plan out everything in detail, one can at least schedule one’s priorities.
As wise men say, what gets scheduled gets done. There's a lot of truth in that.
Declutter
At the mention of decluttering at work, most people think of simply organising their desk. It’s because one’s environment has a profound impact on productivity. So, organise documents and throw away things that you no longer need.
But there's much more to it.
Most people have inboxes full of messages that they'll never read. That’s why decluttering your computer, and your phone is also essential.
Decluttering can also mean eliminating distractions, such as unsubscribing from a newsletter that you haven't opened in weeks and unfollowing people on social media.
It's all about focusing only on things that matter.
When you free your space and mind from things and ideas you no longer need, it becomes easier to organise everything around you.
Let Technology Help You
Technology is said to be the enemy of productivity, but it doesn't have to be that way. Befriend technology and let it work for you.
Today, there are amazing apps for collaboration and organising at work. They can work wonders even for remote teams.
There are three important types of apps every business owner or manager needs.
First, an app that helps organise work. And one of the most famous is Asana.
Second, you need an app that will help you communicate effectively with your team. The simpler the app, the better.
Finally, there are also productivity tools available. And anything that uses the Pomodoro technique can be quite effective. This technique helps you break daily goals into smaller chunks and assign them to blocks of time.
Find What Works for You
There are so many different tools and techniques one can use to improve organisational skills. And what works for one manager may not work for another.
The best thing is to try out various methods until you find your own. But remember that the best way to develop organisational skills is to practice them. Start with something small, like organising your week in detail.
When you see the first results, you'll be even more motivated to continue.
5 Useful Motivation Tips for Solopreneurs
Working for yourself sounds great in the beginning but many solopreneurs soon discover that giving up the day job isn’t always as glamorous as it seems. Loneliness and a lack of motivation eventually creep in and you might even find yourself missing your 9-5 more than you thought possible. However, you went into business by yourself for a reason and lost motivation can always be found again. It’s important to mentally prepare yourself for these bumps in the road and understand how to motivate yourself to keep moving, even when the going gets tough. Here are some top tips on staying motivated as a solopreneur.
1. Make Your Business Fit Your Lifestyle
Freedom is often listed as one of the top reasons solopreneurs leave the corporate world and go into business by themselves. Entrepreneurship offers you the chance to fit work around your lifestyle, not the other way around. Therefore, the key to staying motivated is actually putting this into practice. Particularly during the startup phase of your business, you may feel as though you need to dedicate every waking hour to your budding enterprise, but is really that why you started out on your own?
Aligning your business with your lifestyle will boost your overall satisfaction and give you the motivation you need to keep on working, so make your schedule work for you. For example, if you love hitting happy hours with your friends, why not adjust your working schedule so that your days start and finish early and there’s time for socialising afterward? Or if you’re a keen fitness fan, you could take advantage of your flexible hours and hit the gym midday when it’s most likely to be quiet. These are just examples, but take time to think about ways to balance your business with your other interests.
2. Find A Coworking Space
Being able to work from the comfort of your own home is indeed fantastic, but not seeing another soul all day can also get pretty lonely. Plus, you run the risk of going stir crazy. On the other hand, if you’ve got noisy family members who are also at home all day it can be difficult to concentrate.
Find out if there’s a coworking space near you where you’ll be able to meet like-minded individuals and work in a relaxed, but focused environment. Coworking spaces also run lots of useful events like workshops and seminars which can help you to learn new skills and develop your ideas.
3. Find A Support Network
One of the biggest advantages of co-working spaces is the chance to meet and learn from your fellow solopreneurs. They can empathise with you in a way that most of your friends and family probably can’t, and boost you up when you need it. Plus, they’ll be able to offer more valuable insights and advice to help you work through your problems.
Of course, co-working isn’t the only way to meet other entrepreneurs. Mastermind groups are an increasingly popular business growth tool. A mastermind is a peer-to-peer mentoring group where you can find inspiration, bounce ideas around, and enjoy the support and advice of fellow entrepreneurs. Participating in this kind of group also helps to keep you accountable, which is essential when your motivation is lagging.
4. Balance Your Workload
Balancing your workload is easier said than done, but it’s a crucial part of staying motivated. Studies show that small business owners tend to work longer hours than the average worker. In the UK, companies can’t make their employees work for any longer than 48 hours per week, but there are no such constraints on the self-employed. However, it’s definitely worth setting yourself a time limit to ensure that you stay both productive and sane.
You might not get it right at first, but keep on making small adjustments and find out what works for you. If you work too hard, you’ll burn out but if you don’t put enough hours in, you won’t make any progress - and you’ll probably get bored. Keep your long-term goals in mind and remember that your journey as a solopreneur is a marathon, not a sprint.
5. Reward Yourself
Instant gratification is undoubtedly more motivating than slogging towards a long-term goal. The problem is that entrepreneurship is all about the big picture and it may be a while before you reap the rewards of all the hard work you’re putting in.
The easiest way around this is to set yourself small goals and attach rewards to each one. For example, if you struggle to work an eight-hour day, motivate yourself with the promise of your favourite dinner that evening. You can choose more extravagant bonuses for bigger milestones, such as a new pair of shoes for finally finishing your website or a fun day out for landing a new client.
Summary
Ultimately, the key to staying motivated as a solopreneur is to enjoy the journey and remember to have some fun along the way. Self-discipline is crucial, but you can’t sustain a punishing schedule for long. It may sound cliche, but finding a work-life balance is truly the secret sauce for success.
How to Build A Strong and Successful Team
Teamwork makes the dream work, or so the saying goes, but there’s a lot more to building a team than hiring a few talented individuals. A strong and united team is essential for the growth of your business, but powerful teams don’t happen by accident. It’s vital that you invest time and effort into building a team that can propel your business towards success. Here’s how to do it.
Value Your Team
First things first: the most important part of building a strong and successful team is valuing them. In fact, it’s the key principle that underpins the subsequent processes outlined in this article. To build a great team, you first have to value them and, more to the point, show them that they’re valued. Underappreciated team members quickly lose motivation and become passive and uninterested. Appreciating your team now lays the foundation for their future success and helps you put the following steps into place.
Communication
It’s vital that you establish clear lines of communication with your team and ensure that they communicate well with each other. If you want your team to work as one, it’s important to ensure that all members know exactly what’s going on - no one should be left in the dark. Moreover, regular communication and transparency shows team members that they are respected and valued, which is essential for maintaining staff morale.
Working remotely is no excuse for poor communication in this day and age. There are plenty of great team management platforms out there, such as Slack and Microsoft Teams, and you can host virtual meetings via Zoom.
Clear Roles and Responsibilities
It’s essential that you clearly outline the roles and responsibilities of each team member so that everyone knows exactly what they should (and shouldn’t) be doing. This allows your team to operate smoothly without treading on each other’s toes, and at the same time, ensures that no tasks slip through the cracks—your team functions at its best when everyone knows what to do.
Set Goals
A powerful team needs a purpose. Setting short, medium, and long-term goals helps to motivate and mobilise your team. Each member should appreciate the importance of their work and understand how they’re contributing to the bigger picture. On top of this, clear goals provide a framework for decision-making and effective action.
Decide Together
Even the most powerful teams quickly lose motivation when they feel as though they’re being dictated to. Involving the whole team in the decision-making process where possible makes them feel valued, competent and capable. Your team is much more likely to be passionate about a decision they had a hand in making, so listen to their opinions and consider their ideas. Not only does this help to motivate your team, but it also helps to strengthen the bonds between them.
Get to Know Each Other
The phrase “team building” often elicits yawns and eye-rolls, but some out-of-office socialising allows team members to understand each other better and promotes trust and unity. Choosing fun team-building activities can boost morale and help create a more positive office atmosphere, which is great for the health of your business.
The above point about joint decision-making is especially pertinent when it comes to team-building outings. Bounce ideas around with your team and find out what they’d like to do - especially if you’re asking them to give up their personal time. Dragging them along to do something unappealing won’t do much for morale.
Conclusion
Building a strong and successful team isn’t rocket science, but it does take work. Making a conscious effort to value and communicate with your team goes a long way towards setting them up for success. It’s well worth your time to ensure that everyone is clear on their specific goals and responsibilities, and encouraging your team to bond outside of work helps your company run like a well-oiled machine.