Performing as a Team!

By Zack Srock

Watching these 2016 NBA finals as an avid Cavs fan has really sparked my emotions in relation to the power of a “team”. Every company in business has tough competitors. The Golden State Warriors are the defending champs and posted a historical season. As we have seen, the Cleveland Cavaliers are a great analogy for the importance of getting your team to perform on all cylinders. With two games left, I was convinced LeBron and Kyrie couldn’t do it alone. They may be the leaders, but they needed to get their “coworkers” involved. Smith, Shumpert, Love, Thompson, just to name a few Cavs players needed to step up and do their part to beat the competition.

Some employees tend to underperform at times. Do they not fit right into the system? Are they not getting enough of an opportunity? Or perhaps the project is simply too large for them to handle. Kevin Love could be the perfect example of a talented individual who underperformed. Does that mean you “fire” or trade him or perhaps just work on developing more team chemistry and establishing his role? Kevin Love ultimately stepped up and made pivotal defensive plays in the Game 7 Final, assisting in Cleveland’s first Championship win in over 50 years. We have to wonder what Coach Lou did and said to get Love firing on all cylinders, motivating not just Love but all his players resulting in one of the biggest wins in NBA history.

Here are 5 steps I believe can help your company grow as a team and perform at their best together.

Step 1: When hiring potential new employees let them know about your expectations and the culture of the company. They should be aware ahead of time you want employees to interact and work as a team.

Step 2: During the new hire’s orientation period provide them with a mentor. Perhaps going out to lunch with a veteran of the company or being introduced to a few employees from different departments will spark enthusiasm in your new coworker.

Step 3: Give each employee specific goals and things to achieve daily, weekly, yearly, etc. Having their own tasks and initiatives will keep them apart of the overall effort.

Step 4: Ask your employees to provide feedback on the companies’ culture, services, and opinions on how to improve the business, and let them know you care about their input.

Step 5: Plan team building activities to make the employees well acquainted with each other. Also, share company successes and failures so they can understand what needs improved and what they have also worked hard to achieve.

I believe if you implement these 5 steps into your new hire system and company culture, your employees will bond and work as a team. With everyone doing their part, success will definitely follow!