Time, money, resources – they’re all limited when you work in a small business. Between juggling your need to keep up performance alongside staff job satisfaction, training and professional development has a habit of falling into the background, especially as your small company grows.

But training is a vital component for any business. It’s what keeps staff feeling refreshed, operations ‘on point’, and reputation high on the agenda. Fail to invest in professional and personal development, and you will quickly find both your employees and customers looking elsewhere.

Irish unemployment is at a crucial low of 4.5% - can your company compete for talent? Getting the most out of staff training and investment could be your key.
 
Top HR Department Tips for Staff Training

1. Research, Research, Research

There is nothing worse for a time-strapped employee than being asked to attend a workshop or conference that bears no relevance or key training that will help them with their jobs.

Between the earlier alarm call to catch a train or flight, the stress of finding the location and the boring, overestimated speaker, your employee can be left frustrated with the loss of time and lack of learning. Meanwhile, you have failed to improve employee skills and lost out financially.

Doing your research on the best courses or host associations is key. Implementing a mentoring scheme in work can help senior staff identify what skills their junior colleagues could benefit from, while e-learning courses give employees the option to develop more flexibly, avoiding the dreaded stress of commuting to courses, or juggling family commitments.

By taking the time to understand which skills you need to improve in your employees and the best training options available, you can get the most out of the resources, money and time that you use as a business to develop your workforce.

1. If In Doubt, Ask!

Even in a small business, it can be a struggle to understand what your staff desire; what training they want and what skills or equipment they feel they need to do their jobs better.

While you might have an idea of the needs of the overall organisation, some employees may be more experienced than others in different aspects of their jobs. Some may have received training in previous employment, while others may want to develop some skills associated more closely to their particular job title and role within the company.

As an employer, you can maximise training opportunities by evaluating what the business needs as a whole, as well as ask staff to request training that they are interested in and feel would improve their jobs. Whether it is a certain course or provider they have heard of or taking part in Personal Development Plans during their appraisals to voice their own training goals, your staff can help you to invest efficiently in development, so you can get more bang for your buck.

1. After-Training Feedback

If a training course or conference doesn’t deliver, staff may feel unable to share that with you, conscious of the money & resources you may have used up to send them.

Implementing a process through your HR team, whereby staff can share feedback on the courses they have attended and their recommendations for future training, will give you an insight into the quality of courses or conferences you are investing in, and help you evaluate your choices for future professional development.
 
Train Your Way to the Top
All companies, especially small businesses, struggle to give up the time, money and resources to provide employee development and training. Weeding out the useful from the irrelevant courses, as well as recognising staff training goals will help you to invest in the right training for the right person, at the right time.

​Make sure your resources aren’t wasted – research and use your HR team to ask staff the right questions, before and after you embark on your training journey. 

Internships have experienced a popular rise in recent years, particularly amongst those career fields such as the arts that lack the funds for full-time, permanent roles.

But it isn’t just the interns that need the experience; businesses are increasing strapped to find the right talent & skills needed. While Ireland remains on the cusp of full employment, this multiple industry skills shortfall isn’t set to disappear any time soon.

Summer is upon us, schools and universities have finished up, and so too are its students & alumni. Why not fill those skills, give young talent an opportunity to develop their experience, and attract your future employees by offering robust and valuable internships? Check out why internships are important for your business, and the pitfalls to avoid.
 
Why An Intern?

• Performance Upkeep

As Summer holidays begin, many of your permanent staff may be looking forward to switching off and catching some rays somewhere for a week. But what about your performance?

While it may only be temporary, if a business is without several team members, productivity can slip and lead to customers or clients becoming unhappy.

Having a trained intern or two already available can help to level off some of this loss, and ensure your business keeps up its performance throughout the Summer period.

• Talent Gaps

On the other hand, Ireland has never been as close to full employment. Compared to 16% when the recession hit hard, unemployment now stands at an all-time-low of 4.4%, according to the Central Statistics Office.

Businesses across the island are finding it increasingly hard to attract talent, with competition driving up wage bills as a result.

Implementing internships can grab great talent early and give your business the opportunity to ‘sell’ and prove itself with these candidates. This will only make it easier to retain this talent permanently in the future.

• Fresh Perspective

Giving a candidate an internship will help them to learn new skills and develop a greater experience in your sector. However, an intern can also provide a fresh perspective and valuable feedback on your organisation from the ground up.

Whether it’s their views on the management model, to the training that they have received, this retrospect will only help improve your business and operations.
 
Pitfalls To Avoid
While internships are great for your business, it is important to tread carefully.

• No Pay, No Way!

Young candidates are growing increasingly weary of poorly paid or unpaid internships as a sign that your business will not offer practical experience, and that you do not care for your interns and the skills that they can bring.

Put simply, people are fed up working for free. In our low-level unemployment environment, young candidates will go elsewhere in their hunt for new skills and fair pay. Offering a reasonably paid internship will reap the best talent and the maximum benefits for your business.

• Poor Preparation

Whether you forget they are coming, fail to have a designated staff member to mentor them, or you haven’t enough tasks for them to work on, an internship can quickly become a boring exercise of administration.

While it might be great to get some tedious databases cleaned up, an intern won’t see it that way. Instead, they will view your business as disorganised and a negative place to work, leading to a poor word-of-mouth reputation when that intern returns to University during the next term.

Poor preparation for an internship will leave you without your skills gaps filled, while the Intern will fail to learn anything new or valuable, resulting in a waste of both time and opportunity.
 
Time for Skills, Time for Interns
The talent crunch is on. It’s time that you use your HR department to address this, seek out the skills that you need and implement robust, valuable internships that will reap these skills and introduce new talent to your business.

​Ensuring internships offer fair pay, a great experience and a valuable opportunity for professional skills development will attract the best candidates that could form part of your future workforce. 

No matter what industry you’re in, one thing is certain – you will at some point hire employees for
your business. It is (hopefully) an exciting time for a company as new personalities and talent comes
on board, as well as for the new employees who bring fresh passion for their role. However, what
about those candidates who didn’t get the job? They applied for a position hoping it was a new start
for them in an area they wanted to excel in but there was ‘no such luck’ this time.

Surveys show that the main thing people despise when going through the job process is not hearing
back from an interview. It’s not nice for someone to hear they didn’t get the job, and it isn’t ideal for
the recruiter to have to deliver the bad news, however if nothing else, it’s important from an
employer branding point of view to inform unsuccessful candidates as soon as possible after your
decision has been made. It is also important to ensure the letter isn’t cold and impersonal with little
feedback.

When is the right time?

It might seem a bit harsh, but giving a candidate feedback as soon as you know they aren’t right for
the job is the best thing. It lets the interviewee move on quickly or perhaps accept another role they
may have been offered.

Quite often, the interviewer knows before the end of the interview if the candidate is suitable for
the position or not and most people have an idea if it hasn’t gone well, so sometimes it’s better to
say there and then what your concerns are. Giving feedback at the end of the interview not only
saves time following up at a later date, it also gives the candidate a chance to counter your opinion.
They may be nervous or inexperienced but if they want the job, they will fight for their place.

If you don’t feel comfortable telling the candidate that you don’t think they are right for the role,
make sure to follow up with them at latest a few days after the interview. It’s not necessary to wait
until you’ve filled the role to inform someone that they haven’t got the job.

What should be included?

A rejection letter should include some kind of constructive and personalised feedback. How you
relay the information very much depends on the method your company takes throughout the entire
employment process – professional and to the point or friendlier and more approachable.

No matter which approach is taken, constructive criticism should also start with the positives,
including some compliments about the candidate before commenting on the areas they didn’t do so
well. At the end of the letter, focus again on any strong points to soften the blow and prevent any
negative impressions of the company.

Where possible, always include areas of the interview where they could have performed better.
These most likely won’t come as a surprise to the candidate, yet it is useful information for them to
take away and focus on for future interviews.

If the company might be interested in hiring the candidate for future opportunities, inform them
that you will keep their details on file and are interested in keeping in touch with them.

How do you humanize a rejection letter?

Simple changes to a rejection letter make all the difference to the unsuccessful candidate. I have
included a few small changes below which might just make the rejection that much easier:

Thank the Candidate Amicably

“Thank you for applying to POSITION with The HR Department” can be worded slightly differently.
Try “I want to thank you for taking the time to meet with us last week regarding the POSITION at The
HR Department”

Leave the Door Open

“We’ll keep your details on file for future available positions” could be worded as a question, such as
“I hope you don't mind if I keep your details on file and reach out to you in the future should more
positions arise?”

Provide an Explanation

“Your expertise is not a good fit at this time” may be straight to the point but it makes the candidate
feel undervalued. More detail makes it easier for the candidate to understand, for example, “We are
currently concentrating on hiring HR professionals who specialise in mediation.”

Finally, I want to go back to a point I touched on earlier and in a previous article – candidates are
also customers. A survey carried out by The Talent Board discovered that 8% of applicants had
negative feelings about their experience, and in turn it affected their relationship as a client of that
company. Take the following example:

If a company employs 500 people per year and receives 100 CVs per job posting, that amounts to
49,500 rejected applicants. The 8% left with a negative outlook on the company could mean the
business potentially loses nearly 5000 current or potential customers.
​
Don’t let that happen to your company – write the rejection letter.


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We are all aware of the current difficulties facing Human Resource departments. From talent acquisition and retention, to workplace discrimination and skills shortages - companies are constantly looking for new ways to tackle the minefield of issues in HR. One way that some companies are innovatively trying to overcome these problems is through a rebranding of HR itself.
 
You may have heard of this approach thanks to the tech giant, Google, which, rather than calling the department ‘Human Resources,’ renamed it ‘People Operations’ back in 2006. So, is this nothing more than a name change for HR? Or are there different aspects of People Operations that can help companies and HR departments address the modern day challenges of the digital age?
 
Here at the HR Department, we want to demonstrate three lessons HR can learn from People Operations, with the aim of advancing HR’s performance and efficiency in business.

1. People, People, People

Sorry to sound repetitive, but it’s hard to understate the people-centric approach adopted by People Operations departments. HR needs to shrug the stereotypical image of being bogged down in paperwork and payroll, and prove that at the heart of HR is the employee.
 
This means creating genuine connections with workers and putting their needs first. Understanding what makes employees’ tick is paramount in People Operations departments and is certainly something HR needs to focus on. In doing this, companies can harness a strong company culture where the values of its workers are on display and, in turn, build an employer brand that portrays the business as an attractive place to work.

People Operations also tends to be a more flexible and cross-functional department compared to traditional HR. It’s important to realise that HR functions, such as hiring, managing payroll, training or dealing with maternity leave, are all interlinked and demand a collaborative approach if businesses are to maximise productivity. In that sense, HR professionals should not fall victim to tunnel vision, ensuring they communicate regularly with each other and all departments.
 
2. Connect with Leadership

HR, in the past, has been seen as subservient to management within business. However, times are changing, particularly as companies recognise the central role that HR plays in employer branding and talent acquisition. People Operations departments tend to have a more strategic role in business and are therefore better connected with an organisation’s leadership – something HR departments can greatly benefit from. Having an HR presence at leadership level helps to make sure that an organisation has a unified corporate vision while ensuring prospective and current employees both understand, and buy into, the company culture.

3. Focus on Data

Finally, People Operations departments place more of an emphasis on data than traditional HR. As I wrote in a recent blog post on big data in HR, the truth is that data is key to providing insights into employees and assessing workforce sentiments with the aim of improving the environment in the workplace. Of course, data isn’t only useful for measuring employee satisfaction, it also has the ability to streamline payroll and timesheets, and improve employee performance analysis.
 
This also means that HR departments, rather than fearing automation, should see it as a way of generating useful data that contributes to the smooth and effective running of HR. Additionally, what sets People Operations apart from traditional HR is that data is constantly analysed and monitored on an ongoing basis, rather than waiting for an annual review – again, definitely something HR can learn from. In reality, HR departments need to embrace data, as People Operations departments have, in order to figure out the optimal way for a company to operate on a day-to-day basis.
 
Of course, this isn’t a call for HR departments to upend their traditional approaches altogether. Equally, it’s not being claimed that a people-centric, leadership connected, data focused approach is suitable for all companies. Instead, HR professionals should pick and choose the approaches which best fit with their company and its management style. Human Resources, People Operations, call it what you like, but the goal for this department will always be to contribute to the overall smooth running of a business and make it as productive and profitable as possible, all the while keeping employees happy. No mean feat, but one that we must strive for, whatever approach we take.

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As Bob Dylan once wrote ‘the times they are a changing’. Much like hit comedy Anchorman’s protagonist Ron Burgundy, there’s a good chance that many Millennials have never heard that song. But in terms of talent management and acquisition the words are as true today as they were in 60s.
We’ve received numerous enquiries from business owners and HR managers frustrated with their Millennial employees. They seem disengaged. They’re overly opinionated. They’re self-absorbed. The list goes on. Often, what appears to be the problem is a misinterpretation of the situation.
There’s no doubt that the expectations of Millennials are different to those of their parents and grandparents. Their values must align with the company they work for. They crave variety and they’re more concerned with striking a better work/ life balance than money.
If you can understand their motivations and needs, then Millennials can be a powerful addition to your workforce, bringing vibrance and a fresh way of thinking to your organisation. Here are five things you need to understand about Millennials to get the most out of them.

#1. Look at your culture
As I mentioned Millennials are far more selective about the type of company they work for. Like anyone, they want to work for an organisation they can be proud of. Unlike previous decades, however, this may have nothing to do with size or turnover. Rather they may want to work with an organisation that values diversity or collaboration or corporate social responsibility. These are cultural elements and employers having to look long and hard at what they stand for in order to attract the right kind of talent.

#2. Offer a clear career path
In an age of immediate gratification and answers at the tip of their finger, Millennials aren’t used to standing around and guessing what the outcome is going to be. When it comes to their career they want to know what is expected of them, how they will progress through your organisation and what the limitations will be.
By offering a clear career path, with milestones and expectations, you can entice the most talented to join your company. Just be sure you can back-up whatever you agree to.
 
#3. Give them structure
Following on from my second point, structure is an essential part of managing Millennials. Through school and university, looking at tasks on a project-by-project basis has become the norm for them. Adapting your management processes to reflect this can make a huge difference to engaging your Millennial workers.
Clearly define assignments and success factors. Make sure reports have set due dates and that meetings have agendas and minutes.
Having a list of tasks that can be ticked off, as opposed to one vague goal, feeds into the Millennial need for instant gratification.
 
#4. Acknowledge their efforts and opinions
This is often an element older generations of employers struggle with. If your attitude is that employers are paid to do a job and they should be glad of it, then you’re probably not going to get far with your Millennial staff.
A challenge of their need for instant gratification is that they almost expect to be acknowledged for the work before they do it. However, showing them how the work they do adds value to your business and recognising their efforts through various incentives – not necessarily financial but perhaps in terms of social rewards or time in lieu – can go a long way.
Equally, this generation has grown up in a world of collaboration. Schools, teams, societies, and universities emphasise the value of team work and that a strong team is more effective than any one individual. As such, Millennials are used to sharing their thoughts and opinions with their seniors just as much as with their peers.
Accept that they are not intentionally acting out of turn and they will value your constructive criticism as much as they appreciate your giving their opinions genuine consideration.
 
#5. Avoid boredom
Millennials are used to doing a 101 things at the same time. From sending an email while on the phone, to networking face-to-face and social media all at the same time, they’re the ultimate multi-taskers.
If you’re not challenging them, they will quickly get bored; and a bored Millennial is a disengaged worker; and a disengaged worker can be more harmful to your operation than anything else.
Meet with them regularly to ensure they are happy with the workload; that they find it challenging and interesting and that they see the purpose of what they’re doing.
 
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Holiday season is fast approaching and the request forms are already starting to pile up no doubt, as staff look forward to a bit of down time from their humdrum work routine, whether it’s catching up on odd jobs around the house or soaking up some sun with the family on a beach in Spain.
While it may feel like things slow down during the ‘silly season’, thanks to the interruption of various team members using their annual leave, recent research reveals that employees may not be tuning out as much as they should and it could potentially be very bad for business.
The survey conducted by Regus found that, instead of resting 39 percent of employees continue to work up to three hours a day while on holiday. Perhaps this shouldn’t come as such a surprise. Advances in technology, in the way we are constantly tuned into our work through our mobile phones, along with a hangover from the downturn with staff keen to justify their roles, have made working while on holiday, or at least checking emails, fairly standard practice. While at first glance this might seem like a coup for employers, the reality is that in the long run it may cost you.
Here are some examples:
1.Staff Burnout
Even the best of us need a break every now and then. If your workers are unable to switch off and relax, then it’s unlikely they’ll reap the energising benefits of being on holiday. Instead of coming back fired up and ready to work, they tend to be less motivated and more easily distracted. In 2007 Business Week reported that ‘vacation deprivation increases mistakes and resentment at co-workers.’ Ultimately, this translates as a drop in productivity.
2.Increased Sick Leave
Stress related illnesses are among the leading causes of employee absenteeism in Ireland and the UK. Figures from the Office for National Statistics revealed that 30 million employees in the UK took time off work with stress, anxiety or depression in 2013. Workers who don’t take a break can eventually make themselves ill.
It’s not just mental either. In America a study conducted by the State University of New York of 13,000 middle-aged men at risk of heart disease showed that those who went without a vacation for five consecutive years were 30 percent more likely to suffer a heart attack.
Whether it’s short or long term that means further disruption to your business, which may impact on its profitability.

1. Legal Risks

Under health and safety legislation employers have a duty to ensure, as much as reasonably possible, the welfare and safety of their employees at work. If there is a culture of working while on holidays, or if employees feel pressured into not using their annual leave entitlement, then should an incident occur – be it a stress-related illness or an injury due to burn out – then an employee may have grounds to take action against your company.
Additionally, under common law, if it is believed that you as the employer failed to take reasonable care for the health and safety of such an employee, they may have grounds to bring a personal injury claim against you.
What Can You Do
Regardless for an employee’s reasons for working while on holiday or choosing not to take time off at all, you as an employer must take action to encourage it as much as possible. Here are some measures you can take to foster a culture where staff switch off when on holiday:

1. Communicate the Company Holiday Policy

Make sure all staff are aware of their holiday entitlements. This information should be clearly communicated in their staff handbook but it is also worth relaying the information through email, staff newsletters, weekly briefings or whatever other means you use to engage with your work force. This provides an opportunity to emphasise the value you place on employee downtime. HR automation software, such as HRLocker, can also be useful in providing employees with a visible diary, so they can coordinate their holidays and take ownership of their time off.

1. Lead by Example

As employers we are often the most likely culprits not to take our designated vacation time. Afterall, we are the steam that turns the wheel and keeps the business moving forward. However, the example we set tends to trickle down through the company as directors and managers follow your lead and their subordinates copy them.
If you want to instil a culture where staff feel comfortable taking holiday then you need to show that you too are happy to leave the office behind, even if it’s just for a few days.

1. Manage Workloads

One of the main reasons why employees work while on holiday is to stay on top of their workload. In fact, ‘leavism’, where employees use their annual leave just to catch up on work, is a growing concern.
Be reasonable in your expectations when distributing work to your employees. Regular management meetings and one-to-ones (where possible) with workers helps establish an open dialogue, where employees feel valued and employers can gauge their capacity. Establish a process for handing over ongoing work when an employee is scheduled to go on holiday so that is shared out equally and all employees, particularly those taking leave, are confident it will be managed effectively.

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David Bell is Managing Director of The HR Department, outsourced human resources specialists for Irish SMEs.

St. Patrick’s Day, our beloved national holiday, is upon us once again. For some employers it’s a chance to have a little fun and engage with staff. For others it’s an excuse to throw on the garish green cords their wife bought last Christmas. For most it’s a lottery, wondering which employee will be the first to ring-in sick the next day.
Here are some of my top tips on how to embrace the day, what to avoid and measures you can take to limit absenteeism the day after.
The Fun

• Go Green

Encourage everyone in the office to wear something green to work. It’ll also make for a cool team pic.

• Host a Traditional Lunch

And no I don’t mean handing out cans of Guinness to everyone. Why not give your staff a taste of some traditional Irish dishes such:

• Irish stew or Guinness Beef Stew – both are good
• Coddle – a type of sausage and bacon stew from Dublin
• Vegetable soup with a thick slice of brown bread and a knob of real butter
• Boxty – a bread made using potatoes and flour
• Colcannon – mashed spuds with kale and a heap of butter

• Spotifyrish

Compile a playlist of some of the best Irish music. They great thing about Ireland is that we’ve a huge selection to choose from, from The Corrs to U2.

• Freshen Things Up

Why not dress the communal areas in your office with fresh flowers and plants. Tulips come in a wide range of colours – ideal for getting an Irish theme going. Plants have been shown to boost staff morale and productivity too.

• Slainte

Why not make it a staff get-together? Most employees will be joining friends later that evening anyway. Arrange a St. Patrick’s Day tipple at the local so you can toast our snake banishing hero as a team.
 
The Bad

• Curb the Patriotism

Unless you work in Temple Bar, there’s no reason to have the Wolfetones and the Dubliners on full blast. It may be the 1916 Centenary but let’s not get overly patriotic.

• Costumes Are Not Cool

Wearing something green to work can be a bit of fun but you need to toe the line somewhere. Staff dressing up in complete costumes may come across as unprofessional or inappropriate.

• Everything in Moderation

Celebrating St. Patrick’s Day with staff after work is fine but remember, you have a duty of care to them while they’re out with you. When drink is involved any number of things can go wrong, from harassment to assault to personal injury. In short, enjoy the evening but make sure it’s in moderation and have a finishing time for the staff outing.
The Tardy
A survey carried out in 2014 revealed that almost a third of employers in Ireland expected some of their staff to call in sick on 18th March, and almost all Irish employers feared productivity would be down that day thanks to ‘Irish-flu’. I imagine that those figures have changed little in the past two years.
Here are some tips to reduce deter staff from bunking off work:

• Plan the week ahead. Setting strict deadlines for tasks to be completed.
• Remind those working on the 18th that you’ll need them on top form that day as you need to meet the deadlines set.
• Incentivise them by attaching rewards to the completion of certain goals. If they’re working towards something other than ticking another box, then there’s a better chance they’ll not let the St. Patrick’s Day revelry affect them.
• Be flexible – If it is feasible, offer the option of flexi-time to your staff, where they can start and finish an hour later.
• Where a heavier stance needs to be made, refer back to your company’s staff handbook and issue a notice to employees outlining what is deemed acceptable behaviour and what is no, along with information on sick leave entitlements for uncertified illness. The idea of not getting paid might be the motivation they need to drag themselves out of bed on Thursday morning.

 
Wishing you a very happy St. Patrick’s Day!!
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David Bell is Managing Director of The HR Department, outsourced human resources specialists for Irish SMEs.
 
 

The HR Department has partnered with cloud based HRLocker to help SMEs across Ireland save time and money, while boosting productivity and employee engagement. 

The partnership will combine our traditional human resources consultancy with online, automated, administrative applications, providing businesses of all sizes with a full, affordable HR function, without the need for a dedicated HR manager.

Last year we conducted a survey of 400 Irish SMEs that found almost half (45%) of all Irish SMEs have no dedicated HR function. However, as the economy grows and businesses take on new staff, administrative pressures and employee issues are likely to increase. Considering that SME owners already spend between seven and 25 percent of their time buried under employee-related paper work, the impact of this could be significant.

By automating and managing all their HR administration online, from employee absence management and timesheets to recruitment and performance management to employee records and HR reporting, HRLocker helps employers significantly reduce the time and money spent on tedious administration so they can focus on growing their business. Additionally, as it is an online, cloud-based service, there are no expensive software costs or hardware legacy issues.

Meanwhile, The HR Department will continue to deliver outsourced consultative services to business owners, from employee wellness and personal development programmes to contracts and grievances, which can be married with HRLocker’s admin applications to streamline all HR activities and identify any employee challenges before they escalate.

Human resources continues to be a major issue for Irish businesses. In 2014, 4,162 cases were we referred to the employment appeals tribunal, and this year more than 260 cases have already been appealed.

David Bell, Managing Director of The HR Department, adds, “Many of the cases that go before the employment appeals tribunal could be prevented if businesses placed more emphasis on their human resources. In fact, employers that automate their HR find it easier to be compliant with NERA’s requirements. This partnership makes HR management a straight forward process that any small business can manage. HRLocker’s impressive client portfolio is testimony to its quality and we’re delighted to make it available to our customers.”
​
To demonstrate just how effective HRLocker is, business owners can try it out absolutely free for 14 days by visiting http://login.hrlocker.com/account/register/1006

Creators of the Egyptian pyramids understood teams, as did every military leader in recorded history, which is why it’s rather astonishing that the concept of teamwork in business is so recent. Anyone who is interested in history will know that the term “teamwork” wasn't really used in the organisational vernacular until the 1970s. It’s not known why it appeared so late, perhaps the turbulent economy or the shattering of social unity caused researchers to look into why some teams fail and others succeed.

It has been said that two large pizzas should be enough to feed a team. The most popular reasons for using the two-pizza rule is that as well as keeping teams agile and responsive, when teams comprise of a dozen people or less, each member is more likely to care about the others, and are more likely to share information.

As teams scale up, unity tends to come apart. At 100 people or more, team members may get on with each other but they aren't as likely to care about their roles and helping them out to complete a task.

Building an excellent small business team is about more than just employing the correct people. It's important to inspire your team with a vision, nurture their individual talents whilst appreciating their dynamics as a team. A business succeeds when employees invest in its success, so take a read through my tips below to ensure you choose the right people to succeed with:

Be a Thought Leader

Top talent doesn't work for average companies with ineffective brands. The more a company can be positioned as an authority in its industry, the more talent will naturally be attracted to working for it. Thought leaders in an industry share expertise with others, which in turn indicates to potential hires that the company is respected within its field.

Don’t Settle for Mediocre

Employers have a habit of often settling for the first run-of-the-mill person they hire, which in turn, can lead to weaknesses within a team. Once it becomes apparent that a member of the team is performing at a mediocre level, it’s essential to discuss the challenges they are facing as well as letting them know that is there is support for them to do better. If there’s no improvement within a few months, it’s time to find a new person for the team.

Forget the Money…at First

People who have passion for the company they wish to be a part of should be strongly considered when hiring, especially if money is not their number one priority when accepting a job offer. It’s important for employees to be interested in the success of the business, and if all they see are euro signs, their hearts may not really be in it.

Trust is Crucial

An employee may be highly intellectual and work hard, but if there is little or no trust in the working relationship, it’s advisable to let the employee go. Daily operations generally become negatively affected if untrusted employees remain in a workplace.

Personal Lives are Important

We all have personal lives and it is important to recognise employees’ lives outside the workplace. Celebrating team members’ significant moments, such as birthdays or weddings, and supporting them through giving necessary time off, helps build loyalty with them, and they often pay it forward with other members of the team.

Diversity Brings Innovation

Diverse thinkers aid in building a strong team. A range of sexes, ages and races often make a team think outside the box and solve problems from many different viewpoints.

Maintain Systematic Processes

Once success has been achieved in a particular space, it is necessary to create a process that mimics that success time and time again. Whether it is through using check lists in the workplace or adopting the same successful approach for different clients, the process increases the effectiveness of a team.

Use People’s Strengths

Employees have both strengths and weaknesses, both of which should be recognised and considered. Each team member should spend time using their skills to the best of their advantage, but weaknesses should be improved upon to create a skilled all-round employee.

Great Teams Read

It’s a well-known saying that ‘leaders are readers’, so to create leaders within a team, they should consistently read. Try to share articles and books amongst the workplace to keep on top of upcoming trends and stimulate strategic thinking.

Invest in Your First Five Employees

Training should be invested into all staff, however when more time is spent training the first five employees, less time is invested in training employees who join the company at a later date. Time needs to be reserved to assist team members and to prepare them to demonstrate the same support to further employees as the company expands.

It’s OK to Be Friends

More often than not, co-workers spend more time with each other in the workplace than they do with family in general. Getting on with team members creates a positive working environment whilst also increasing performance levels. As long as targets are being hit and people are being held accountable, it shouldn’t be unusual to manage a team that is made up of friends.

Give Recognition

Recognising employees when they do something extraordinary not only gives them a sense of accomplishment; it inspires other team members to make the effort to also go above and beyond their normal duties.

It takes time and effort to put together a dream team, but using the above strategies, an amazing team of brilliant employees is most definitely attainable. Remember that scale can hurt focus. The greatest leaders keep their teams small and bright.



The contents of this article are necessarily expressed in broad terms and limited to general information rather than detailed analyses or legal advice. Specialist professional advice should always be obtained to address legal and other issues arising in specific contexts.