Building a Team
Hiring and Team Building
Over the years, I have had the pleasure of building some great teams (and of course inheriting horrible teams when starting a new business or being hired to take over a division).
A couple of things I have learned over the years that may help you with your team(s) and keeping your employee's and/or agencies working hard for you. These are not in any particular order, but, should help the inexperienced manager realize the value of a team and what it has to offer.
- Control - Over the years, I learned to train my team to do my job. Wow, pretty unique huh? Most managers won't do this, because they think that they will work themselves out of a job. And they may be right - but probably 5% -10% of the time. The rest of the time, the manager gets promoted to the next higher job, because he/she is not irreplaceable. Give up "control" and let your team learn. Or, delegate, delegate, delegate.
- Most employee's want to grow and be challenged. Don't think, for a second, that employee's want to stay in the same job the rest of their lives - like you, they have aspirations and goals; help them achieve them. Work with your employee's to accomplish what they want. And yes, they may want to be a musician or in HR, when they are currently in advertising or sales. Why not spend the money to help them train to become what they want? If you funded their training in advertising (let's say), it would take two to four years (if they go to college or take night classes, etc.). During that time, they have to work for you, and, have to work hard for you, since they want to get their degree (or training) and not lose their job in the mean-time. You have a hardworking employee who, yes, one day in the future, MAY leave you to go in another career direction, but, take for example the employee that wants to learn advertising, why not "re-hire" them in the advertising division of your company. They understand the company and what it is doing - the advertising department doesn't need to train a new employee on a product or company philosophy, etc. And, you get to keep a happy employee (if they weren't happy and productive, they wouldn't still be working at your company, right?)
- Mentor - Be a mentor of your employee's. If they want to learn your job, teach them. Don't keep them pigeon-holed - they will leave you after a short time. Many times, I have mentored staff members (who wanted to be mentored) who turned out to work twice as hard, because they saw what it takes to get to be in my position. One hour a week of mentoring will pay off huge dividends for you, your staff, and your company. (By the way, this also helps in a way that is fun to discover - if the employee leaves (or you leave the company), they will stay in touch with you and share information about their company, what they are doing, and what their needs are - which, you may be able to help, by being their new agency, providing a solution to them that they need, or, by finding out about work opportunities out their in the market that you were unaware of).
- Surround yourself with people who make-up for your weaknesses. Yes, you have to admit that you have weaknesses, but, once you come to grips with this, you will be stronger, be perceived to be a stronger leader, and will put out materials that are that much better. Back to control - if you surround yourself with employee's like yourself, you will never improve - don't, for a second, think that the college graduate may not have a better idea or way of doing things better then you. They may, and if you don't let them share and be a part of the team, you will ultimately lose.
- Share - Be honest - Show the big picture. How many times have you walked into a meeting and your boss says to you "do abc". And that is it. You don't know why? You don't understand how it fits into the companies philosophy, etc. The teams that have made me look the best are the teams that I gave total ownership too - where I explained the total picture, how their copy for the brochure will be used by the sales team to increase sales, how the copy will "portray" the new product as xxx, and how this one paragraph will save time on the companies part because it needs to explain xxx. How if the copy is bad or doesn't convey the right message, it will cause xxx to occur, etc. I think you get the idea. I have encountered so many managers who work with the "need to know" as their bible in all their activities. They don't think the employee needs to know what their activity will do or they don't want them to know. This way, the manager gets the credit, not the employee.
- Credit - Last one, I swear. Give credit to your staff. It is amazing how much harder an employee works if given praise and credit. In fact, it can even replace a raise or title promotion (within reason - you can't do this forever, but, for a short time it works wonders). Sharing the wealth (or credit and praise) reaps benefits beyond imagination, don't be stingy.