The most interesting thing about a startup is its team. If the team is right, a startup can scale to great heights, no matter what. But the future of any startup is bleak, if its team doesn’t perform to their full potential.
It’s imperative to build a great team if you’re looking for long-term growth and prosperity for your startup. In its research report, CB Insights, claimed that one of the top reasons why startups fail before taking off is because of their teams. The statistics once again proved the importance of having the right people in any firm.
The Rotman School of Management states that the success of a startup depends a lot on its founder’s ability to attract and build a great team of doers and performers.
A founder may have a great startup idea, but it won’t translate into reality if the same is not executed by the team he hires.
A founder needs to hire skilled and experienced people who believe in the startup’s overall vision and dream. They also need to be a multi-tasker and well aware of their expected duties and responsibilities.
The firm owner should properly delegate tasks to its employees so that each employee works to their full potential with a common goal.
A firm requires a combination of both experienced personnel as well as freshers. Skilled and experienced employees will help you take the startup forward even when things don’t go in your favor. While freshers add the much-needed enthusiasm to your team.
If you’re wondering how to build a great team for your startup, you can follow these simple tips for help:
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Don’t Go On Hiring Spree
If you’ve just launched your business, you may be tempted to hire a lot of employees. But don’t do it. This is one of the major mistakes that most startups make.
You need to first analyze how many employees you truly need and what shall be their job responsibilities.
When you have a clear-cut idea of the number of employees you need along with their expected job profiles, it helps you hire the best people for your team.
The idea is not to rush, but build your team slowly. Make sure you hire only the right employees for your firm. Don’t settle for people who are not right.
Even after hiring, you should continue to scrutinize your employees’ work and performances. Don’t hesitate to fire employees whose performance remains below-par for three consecutive months.
Don’t forget that an employee’s low productivity also level reduces the morale of the entire team.
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Never Undermine the Importance of Soft Skills
Your startup dream may continue to deceive you if you don’t hire people with excellent communication power and soft skills.
Don’t waste your time, money, and effort on hiring employees who are aggressive, impatient, unprofessional, and impulsive. It’s a good idea to go for personality tests, before shortlisting employees.
According to a survey by Criteriacorp, At least 46% of employers shortlist candidates based on their performance in personality tests. It can help you decide if your prospective employees can be a good fit for the company or not.
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Consider Hiring A Recruiter
Team building exercises can become a lot easier if you seek help from professionals. If you can’t devote additional time to screening candidates or evaluating their orientation for the available job profiles, hiring a professional recruitment agency or HR consultant can help.
Starting from posting your job requirement on online job portals, social media sites, and newspapers, to screening the best candidates for your startup, a recruitment firm will be there at each step.
It may be a bit costly affair, but once a professional HR consultant comes to the scene, they can expedite the process of hiring the best candidates for your team, besides saving you time, money, and effort.
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Embrace Diversity at Workplace
A startup that embraces diversity tends to outperform its competitors in terms of ROI and sales. Just imagine if you have a homogenous team with the same personality, they’ll work the same way.
On the contrary, if you have a diverse team, you can expect a great amalgamation of ideas and thoughts. Also, people in a diverse team tend to be more creative and innovative than working at a homogeneous team.
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Take Inspiration from a Sports Team
Startups can expect great success if they start working as a sports team. Just like any sports team, you can implement the same strategy in your business as follows:
Each employee knows their primary responsibilities. They will be held responsible if their performance goes below the level of expectation.
Every employee should know how to tweak their strategy for maximum output. They know how to switch gears of their work mode as per the demand of the situation.
For example, in peak season, all employees should be ready to work additional hours, if needed.
You won’t believe how taking inspiration from a sports team can help a startup scale up its business, besides building a great team of doers and performers.
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Ensure that Team Works Together
Irrespective of the type of products or services you deal in, it’s essential that the team moves in the same direction, and everyone knows their role and responsibilities to help the company accomplish its overall business goal.
You should divide the firm’s overall goal into smaller units and achievable targets. As your firm starts accomplishing these targets, it gets one step closer to its final goal.
When the team collectively works, you can expect great results. It’s nothing but a dream-comes-true moment when each member of the team contributes their 100% at work and gets personally involved in the project.
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Create a Work Culture
You should create a work culture where every employee treats each other as part of their extended family. As a startup founder, you should never hesitate to train or inspire your employees to give their best at whatever they do. Once you successfully bring these core values to the work culture, your employees will abide by them and take your startup to a greater height.
Wrapping Up
According to Fundera, 23% of small businesses and startups fail because of not having the right team. If you wish your startup to thrive, you must choose the right people for your team.
Eventually, the future of any startup completely depends upon its team’s effort, productivity, and level of satisfaction.
