How do you build a winning team?
My company is a SaaS re-seller for several different SaaS categories. I need to build a winning team around me, but I don't know where to start. Any advice?
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May 13, 2018
Choosing people of character will assist greatly in building a successful, winning team that can stand the test of time. Yet many people hire for technical skills only and don't care about the necessary quality relationships to build a winning team.
Feb 26, 2015
Research intrepreneurs. A good leader will bring out the best in their team.
Feb 20, 2015
Look for people who have current/relevant experience. If it is Sales you are looking for, look for people who have been successful in Sales as it means they probably have a natural ability. Provide them with the right training on your product/service and let them take it from there. Taking short cuts when building your team, or hiring people who are nice, won't work. Find people who have something to say in Sales already, even if it is only small. Also, you want people who are naturally motivated. When interviewing people, ask them to give you examples demonstrating they are motivated. You cannot teach motivation. People either have it or they don't. In Sales, it is imperative. People will say they are motivated, but ask for specific examples from work or from school/community to be sure. Good luck!
Feb 19, 2015
Team building requires careful selection of a diverse array of talents needed to complete a specific goal/objective.
So the first step is to define and clarify the goal before the team can be identified.
What does the team need to do?
Once we know where we are and where we need to be: we can begin by selecting a diverse collection of people to fill the roles that are missing.
Teams are built in a couple of ways. In smaller companies: there are fewer team members and they often wear more hats, and perform more duties and roles.
In larger companies: the roles tend to be more segregated and specialized.
So finding someone who has spent a long time in one role in a large company: they might be very strong in a single narrow area, but might be weak in surrounding areas.
Finding someone who has spent a lot of time in a smaller company: the candidate might know a lot about many things, but lack depth in any single specific area.
A strong team will have a good mix, there is no single person that can do everything.
A wise person once said: that if we took the 6 greatest hockey players in the history of the game and put them all on to one team: they would consistently lose to a team of merely average players that play well together.
Why?
Because all of the greatest players are wingers and forwards: who is going to play defense or goal?
Teams are built and destroyed by leaders and bosses.
Leaders coach their teams to work as a united cohesive unit while team destroying bosses create division, favoritism, nepotism, cliques, and/or competition between team members.
Bosses who speak negatively of other team members destroy team spirit by creating a sense of distrust.
What is the difference?
Coaching is guiding, and coaches who develop their teams will win.
A winning team must invest in it's people.
A cohesive team requires a trusting environment where all team members are focused on the same objectives and goals, where open discussion and diverse opinions are appreciated and considered.
A leader looks out for their team members and guides them to victory and success while a boss might make subordinates look bad in an effort to make themselves look better.
A leader shares information and knowledge, while a boss may even restrict access to essential data that would make the team stronger.
A leader cares about their people, and proves that in their words, actions and deeds.
Every one of us who is in a company with more than ourselves is a part of a team. Whether that team plays well together or not is the difference between success and failure of us both as individuals and as a unit.
When a coworker asks for our help: what is our attitude and response?
Are our team members important to us?
Do we let them know that?
Do we show them that they matter?
Feb 19, 2015
Not sure if you are building a sales team or an executive team or both. Lots of good to do's below but I have to be honest and suggest that if you really struggled on where to start I would consider engaging someone to help you map the needs, strengths and vision you have. Ask a Knicks fan what are the consequences of building a team poorly! It can take you years to recover and miss your objectives and goals along the way. Whether it is a hiring pro to help you or a sales/strategy consultant to give you confidence on direction, this isn't one I would leave to reading a lot of advice or articles. Invest in the right pro help up front and I guarantee you will see results where you can thrive otherwise the greater risk is killing yourself with time and dollars assessing, hiring, managing, measuring and firing and starting again if you miss the mark on any of those.
Feb 19, 2015
According to my thought process for SaaS company the service and support is very important.
Initially divert your focus on two team i.e. Sales and support service.
There are three ways where winning SaaS company's sales team purely at new customer acquisition and delegating renewals and up sells to your customer success group
Continuously giving a constant support to the existing customer.
Thanks
Mahendra
Feb 19, 2015
The first place to start is to define the roles you want on your team. After you've done that, detail the skills that person should have and what experience and education would be required to have those skills. At this point in the process, these skills, education, and experience have to be defined - meaning they have to be measurable. You'll have number of years, number of projects, or something that you can clearly point to. Also ask yourself how you define "winning" because this will be part of your measurement. Winning might be "completed x project within project time and budget", for example.
I'd be happy to talk with you further, feel free to reach out to me.
Feb 18, 2015
To build a winning team, you must first assess your leadership skills.
Taking analogy from sports, every great athlete has a coach. So you should be the coach for your organization. Its important you build the next line of coaches in the team (i.e. your different function heads).
Align the organization goals with the performance goals of every employee in the organization. Build a culture where openness is appreciated, reward and appreciate good work done by the individual/team on time; understand the career goals and aspiration of your employees, the skill gaps and how that can be filled via training/ on the job learning via buddy traiining - this will help you plan their lateral movements better.
All the best.
Feb 18, 2015
Follow the link, read the article. It wilk answer your question.
http://www.waldenu.edu/about/newsroom/publications/articles/2015/01-dream-teams
Feb 18, 2015
First, establish your company culture. Then hire individuals that fit your company culture. As Kristine said...skills can be taught. It doesn't matter how skilled a person is, if they don't fit your culture, they won't be an asset to your team.