You’ve invested your money, energy, heart, and soul into starting your own business. You have a physical location, provide excellent service, and have hired your first group of employees. However, something just doesn’t feel right to you. It seems that your work group is missing that “little something extra” that makes it obvious to customers and prospective customers that everyone is pulling the rope in the same direction.

Don’t despair about the “missing ingredient” in your workplace. This feeling you have is common among new business owners, and it doesn’t have to be a major stumbling block to your success. If you’re sure that you’ve made the right hiring decisions and that you’ve properly trained your employees, the next thing you need to focus on is transforming the work group you have assembled to a cohesive, fully functioning team.

Team Work Defined
A team is simply a group of at least two people in pursuit of a common goal, committed to achieving the goal through communication, collaboration, and interaction with each other.

Why is Team Building Important?
The fact that people are hired to work for the same company and go to work in the same office or store every day absolutely does not make them a team. It is an error in judgment to think that “working together” automatically translates into “teamwork”. Working together simply involves doing the tasks one has been trained to perform. Teamwork implies commitment and collaboration. When you go into a place of business and get the sense that the organization is a well oiled machine with employees, you’re likely in the presence of a cohesive team building environment.

Small Business Owners and Team Building
The moment you add your first employee, you must start working to cultivate a culture of teamwork in your organization. Many entrepreneurs make the mistake of thinking that their employees are going to form a cohesive unit on their own, but this is just not likely to happen.

As the business owner, it’s your responsibility to set the stage for behavioral expectations as the workplace. The best thing you can do to make progress toward building a winning team is to communicate openly with the people you hire, engage in TEAM BUILDING and have corporate events. Ask for their opinions, value what they say, and take the time to speak with them regarding why what they do every day matters.

Remember that you are the boss, so you must model your expectations for team behavior so that your employees will see first hand the type of workplace you are striving to create. Show your employees what you want them to do by exhibiting a spirit of teamwork yourself, and then teach them how to work together as a unit. As a small business owner, leading by example and providing ongoing employee training opportunities are two of the most important things you can do to create a workplace where everyone really is pulling the rope in the same direction.