It is only when every member of an orchestra understands and internalizes the music piece, will a beautiful symphony emerges. Without this synchrony and team work, there can’t be any pleasing music to the ears. Similarly, the success of a business depends on the combined work of the team members. Therefore, team members must have similar mindsets and work ethics that will propel them towards a winning team spirit.
Every business needs a team, and there’s no lie in this. However, it’s not just about having a team with no direction, or members with diverse orientations and work ethics. Truth is, there needs to be cohesiveness, an alignment, or a form of synchrony among your group members. This is imperative for your business to succeed.
As a startup, there comes a time where you can’t keep running your business alone. You would need more hands to help you ease the process. Now, it’s not just merely ‘hiring’ an employee. It’s about making them become a team player. When you finally get them to ride with you, you’ll still need to strongly build the desire and willingness of these team players to achieve the functional and organizational objectives of your business. Therefore, as the founder or CEO, you must build an effective and winning team spirit.
This begets the question— how do you instill a winning spirit in your team members?
Building a winning spirit is not a difficult thing to do. You just need to be very deliberate and meticulous about it.
Ingrain the Company Vision within the Team
Where are we going— why are we going there— and how do we get there?
As the spearhead behind your business, your team members need to not only know but understand the vision you have for the business. You need to articulate the vision and communicate its relevance and benefit to the team. When your team members understand this, it helps to shape the team culture and set strategic goals towards actualizing the vision of the business.
The CEO of the International Institute for Complementary Therapists (IICT)— Lawrence Ellyard, advises that as a business owner, you should have a clear vision for your company. Without a clear vision, it’s just like you’re working blindly with no set goals or objectives.
Lawrence is also a book author and has over 25 years of experience in the health industry. He recalls a time when he had to set clear goals and objectives for his team.
“Where our business really started to take off was when I got really clear about the company values and vision statement. I was working with a business coach and completely redesigned my own personal vision and values and then found the business ones were no longer aligned. So these too were redesigned and then a really interesting thing happened: 80% of my team quit. They quit because they were no longer aligned with the new vision and values. And after that occurrence, we attracted the right team, and we now have the most wonderful people who are so deeply enrolled in the business. It was a real turning point,” he says.
To help ingrain the vision better, you should consider having a vision board in your office space. This visualization process helps a lot. A vision board is a collage of words and images that make up your vision. A vision board would always help your team members remember the WHY of the business.
According to a TD Bank survey, one in five business owners used some sort of vision board when they started their business. Of these, about 76% claim that their business is currently where they envisioned it at the onset.
When you’re really clear about what’s important to you, as a founder or CEO, then you would be able to bring what is important and meaningful from your depth— to your company, and to your people. You’ll also attract the right kinds of people who are fully enrolled in your company vision. But if you’re not clear on that, then you won’t get clear results as well.
Do Leadership the Right Way
To an extent, the success of your business depends on how well you lead your team members. Leadership is not just about ‘instructing’ or ‘commanding’ your members to carry out a particular task. It’s about being able to ‘induce’ the team to work with desire, confidence, and enthusiasm. Inspiration provides a cohesive force, and this develops the team spirit.
Help your employees see the “big picture”. Take time to explain to them how their assigned projects or jobs fit into the larger goals and objectives. With this, they understand that everything they do has a direct impact on the company’s success, and they then work towards making a direct positive impact.
With good leadership, you would easily influence the behaviors, attitudes, and also direct the energies of your team members towards the goals, aims, and objectives of the company. Always create an inspiring work culture to empower and encourage the team.
According to Lawrence, it’s essential to be as transparent as possible in business. “I have a big thing around transparency and having an open book policy. Making sure that everyone is aware of what’s going on. This includes solid communication— sharing what is really going on in the business. This builds transparency and it is super important in building a winning team spirit.”
Also, make yourself accountable. Yes, everyone’s accountable. Take ownership of whatever you’re doing. When you look after your team members, they will look after your customers. Teamwork is no accident. It is the result of good leadership.
The Power of Interpersonal Relationship
“It doesn’t take strength to win; it takes the true heart of the team to win”
Interpersonal relationships are congruent to the success of any business. Relationships sit at the heart of an organization. Once a relationship goes sour between team members, you can rest easy that productivity will see a huge decline, if the situation is not properly managed.
As the head, founder or CEO, It’s crucial that you instill, develop, and maintain effective interpersonal relationships among employees members. In the long run, this fosters cooperation, and eventually— productivity.
Final Thoughts on Team Spirit
As Mother Teresa once said— “None of us, including me, ever do great things. But we can all do small things, with great love. And together, we can do something wonderful.”
A winning team spirit has the desire and willingness of the people to work together and help each other as part of the team. As a leader, it is your primary responsibility to build and maintain this spirit to achieve your company goals. Always keep your team spirit up, regardless of all odds stacked against you.
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