Have you ever thought of business as a team sport? Where you are the coach and your employees the athletes in your team? How would you lead your team, if you were their coach? Let’s look at six steps to coaching your small business team to be the elite in your industry.
STEP 1: Understand your employees
Before we can guide our team, we need to have a deep understanding of our employees. What are their strengths? By assessing their strengths and core motives, you can see how you can get the best out of your staff. You can also engage in team-building activities to see what their natural tendencies are when facing challenges or competitions.
Another idea to consider when understanding your employee is how long have they been in your business. New hires will be novices and need a lot of coaching in the beginning but this should not last long as they improve in their skills and understanding of the inner workings of your business. As they become more proficient in their position, they can get to a point where they are masters in their area and can be trained to lead the next generation of employees.
STEP 2: Set out clear goals and objectives
The business needs to set clear and measurable objectives. These objectives need to be broken down into smaller goals for each department. These goals then need to be clearly and effectively explained to the team so they can see how they can contribute to achieving the overall goals of the business.
STEP 3: Guide your employees
Ask open-ended questions which guide your employees to learn from their mistakes. Giving them directives may get the job done quicker but will eat away at their self-esteem to do the job. These questions will also help you to build rapport with your employees so that you can see what their future prospects are in the business and what they need to do to remain loyal to your business.
STEP 4: Encourage feedback
How can your employee improve if you don’t give them good implementable feedback? By giving them feedback you can highlight their strengths and you can work together on solutions to improve their weaknesses. As important as it is to give your employees feedback, you should ask for feedback from your employees about your business and your leading style. This will build trust and give you space to grow together in building an amazing business.
STEP 5: Build a great environment
The space in which your employees’ work needs to have the tools and resources to help them to keep growing. Ensure that you have processes which are conducive to coaching and also encourage continuous learning.
STEP 6: Deal with conflict
Many people are conflict-averse and would rather step away than fight, but on occasions, conflict is good. The reason for this is that it could highlight a chink in the armour. When dealing with conflict, it is important to hear both sides of the story. Try to remain impartial and rule with a fair hand. If you think you will struggle to remain impartial ask a third party to assist in resolving the conflict.
By following these six steps you will be well on your way to creating an elite set of employees who will help to take your business to new heights.
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