What Does It Take To Build And Develop A Truly Great Team? Part 4 of a series…
So here we are in part 4 of this synopsis of my 70 or so post series, walking through hiring the best hourly team members, indoctrinating them onto our team, choosing the right apprentices, and changing the culture of our team from the one that allowed us to be average to one that will not allow average people to remain on the team. The original posts can be found here starting with hiring…
We’ve talked about the importance of hiring for qualities rather than skills (remember, we are hiring hourly team members, from no experience/entry level to Store Team Leaders) since we can train almost anyone pretty much any skills that might be needed, however we cannot teach qualities… Qualities are the things that make our best people “clone worthy”.
We’ve also talked about using the “ketchup question” when hiring for customer service, and the need to determine the default customer service level of your applicant. If you haven’t already, you can read part 1, part 2, and part 3.
So… we’ve interviewed our applicant by making them comfortable, and getting to know them through an in depth conversation, where we asked questions to find the behaviors that describe the Leadership qualities we are hiring for.
And, we’ve decided to hire the person siting in front of us.
Now what? Well…
In order to build a truly great team, we cannot allow our great new hire to simply adapt to the team as it stands. We will simply end up with yet another mediocre team member.
First step: Before I leave the room I will spend another 45 to 60 minutes with my new hire. Yup… another hour to make sure that I get them off on the right foot invested now will pay off in more ways than you will believe.
Remember, great does not happen by accident. We are not satisfied with the standards of behavior, or the culture of our current team (if you are, good for you! Keep up the great work!), and it is going to take hard work and tough decisions in order to affect the change that needs to happen. You can do this, and you need to start today… right here and right now.
You will invest the time and energy to get this new hire fired up. You need them to come onto your team with a full understanding of the new standards you will be holding the team to. You need to indoctrinate them with your excitement about what the team is going to be like, how excited you are to have them on your team, the important role they will play in achieving the goals of the team, and how interested you are in helping them achieve their goals (you just got done talking to them for an hour… you better be able to talk in depth about their goals!).
Some people will state that they don’t like the word indoctrinate… and that’s OK. You don’t have to use that word if it makes you feel uncomfortable. And…
Think of the best, strongest, and highest performing teams you can. Perhaps the Navy Seals come to mind? I grew up in the town that borders West Point… that comes to my mind (and where I hope our 17 year old will go)… Now, do those teams welcome and train their newest team members? Is there coffee, nice music playing in the background while we talk about how we like our team members to treat each other with the same respect you would like to be shown? Not so much…
What kind of process is it? I’ll give you a hint… it’s indoctrination. Before anyone is brought onto the team they are told that it will be a difficult job, that it will be hard work, that you’re your teammates will be committed to excellence, and that you will be expected to uphold the highest standards of behavior and performance.
I don’t believe that there is any way to maintain that level of performance without some form of indoctrination. You don’t have to agree, and has what you’ve been doing gotten you a great team? Is there a reason you can’t have a team that functions at an incredibly high level? This process of hiring for qualities and indoctrinating every one of my new hires worked wonderfully for me, and that’s why I’m suggesting you take a chance and go for great!
Whatever you choose to call it, if you want to achieve and maintain a very high level of performance, you will have to instill your new hire with the values and beliefs of your team. Make sure they understand how much you value having them on the team, and that you are looking forward to them using their experience and knowledge to help the team improve everything it does.
This is not something that you can delegate, nor can it be left to someone who does not even work on your team. You, and only you (because you are the team Leader) can instill your new hires with your excitement about the future of the team, your passion for the success of the team, the rewards that come from achieving the goals of the team, and what the future can/will hold for your new hire. If you feel you have found a great addition to the team, make sure they really understand how excited you are about having them on the team, and how they will be a key player in helping the team achieve it’s goals.
If you do this right, your new hire will come in for his or her first day of work with more motivation that anyone currently on your team. And as long as you continue to stay involved in their work and development, you can help them maintain that level of engagement.
I believe that team member engagement is all about our relationship with the person to whom we report. So you are starting to build that strong, trusting relationship the day you decide to hire them!
Since we are transparent, we make sure our new hire understands that we are a team in transition.
That means they might work with team members who are not upholding the expectations we just discussed, or acting in a manor consistent with the culture we described, and that does not mean it is OK for our new hire to do anything other than meet or exceed those expectations.
We will explain that we are working on changing/improving the culture of the team, that we have some team members who may not be a good fit on this team, and that we are working hard to change their behavior of get then off the team.
It is imperative that we are honest and transparent from our very first encounter with each and every great new hire. We may not have always been as honest and transparent as we should have been in the past, and the only way to develop a truly great team is by making a commitment to honestly and transparency moving forward.
I wrote a post about how and why I indoctrinate (you can read it here) and your indoctrination process should be personal, and fit your workplace. I honed this process hiring and developing great teams for Whole Foods Market… a fast paced retail environment where standards are high and so are customer expectations. You should indoctrinate your new hires with your ideals, your team’s values, and your hopes for their future. Tell them everything you would want to hear if you had made it onto a team that had very high standards, and happy to have you join them.
That’s probably long enough for today (too long by many standards), and I feel that too often posts and articles are too short to effectively help us really understand how to achieve the results talked about in the post. So… I write until I feel I’ve said enough to actually help you. I know this will mean some people won’t read them, and that’s OK.
In part 5 we’ll talk about the next steps in building a great team, like the next steps in our new hire’s work life, moving those who are holding the team back off the team, and how to change the culture of our team.
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