Monday, December 3, 2012

11 Tips for Building and Managing a Team

If you’ve gotten to the point where you’re hiring employees for your business, give yourself a pat on the back. This is a major milestone for any company – and one that millions of entrepreneurs never achieve. Now your challenge is finding the right employee and putting them to work in a way that will help propel your company’s continued growth.

We asked members of the Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC), an invitation-only nonprofit organization comprised of the country’s most promising young entrepreneurs, this question:

    “What one employee management tip would you give entrepreneurs who are building their team?”

Here’s what the YEC community had to say:

1. Train Them

“Many entrepreneurs have the deluded expectation that an employee should show up able to do their job. No matter how competent they are, an employee will require train up and integration time. An added upshot, thinking about employee training cycles and growth paths really gets you thinking about how to grow your company.” ~ Charlie Gilkey, Productive Flourishing

2. Create an Entrance Interview

“We’ve created some documents for new employees to fill out right when they start about how they like to work, be rewarded, have meetings, etc. By having this written down it gives our whole team an understanding of how new team members might fit in and creates a better work culture.” ~ Caitlin McCabe, Real Bullets Branding

3. Get a Good Project Management System

“Entrepreneurs can keep the big picture in their head, but employees need to have the details in front of them. A good project management software (Manymoon is free) is a great way to keep the team focused and on task. Efficiency and productivity increase when you measure accountability with project management software.” ~ Lucas Sommer, Audimated

4. Teach Employees to Never Need a Manager

“Teach and empower your employees by giving them parameters to help them do their job autonomously. A sales rep doesn’t need a script, she must understand what makes a product valuable to a customer, and the many ways to point out those benefits. A service rep does not need a “company policy” to refer to, but rather a strategy for solving problems so the client is satisfied.” ~ Vanessa Nornberg, Metal Mafia
5. Set a Quarterly Theme and Vision