Your company is growing. Maybe you're selecting your first V.A. right now, or maybe you've grown beyond that and things are getting a bit more complicated. Whatever your situation, your staff are integral to your company. You need the right people in the right roles and if they’re not performing well, this can play havoc on your business. There are right ways to manage your staff and wrong ways that could be hindering your business success. Here are some tips for managing your team as your company grows:
The right software can make all the difference when you’re trying to manage your team. Each person in your organization needs differing levels of supervision and attention. Things like enterprise architecture can also be good to implement as your company grows.
If you're just starting out, task management and communications software is a great way to track progress on work being done and monitoring where folks may be slacking. It’s not "spying", but more about ensuring everyone is working as a team and is still able to work individually too. Remember, you're the business owner and it's important that deadlines are being met and that each person on your team is working to their potential.
If you’re a company that doesn’t have staff members and perhaps works only with contractors or with virtual teams, then having online software like Asana or Slack can be useful in monitoring collaborations between you and anyone you’re working with. We've taken to using Trello for our team communications and project management. Everyone can stay on the same page, as it were, and stay in the know about what's happening at Creative Freedom HQ.
Team building exercises are a great way to bring cohesion and unity to your staff. As your company grows, you may have people that don't often interact with each other. It’s important to bring everyone together occasionally in order for them to get to know one another. This keeps cliquishness at bay and helps everyone feel included, seen, heard, and valued.
Find ways of doing team building exercises whether it be company away days or an afternoon of training in-house. For businesses who only have contractors, organizing a virtual cocktail party or ‘get to know you’ session over Zoom could be good for building that on-going relationship.
Your senior leaders are in the positions they’re in due to their knowledge and experience. But, they may not always be good at managing their teams. It’s important that these staff members learn how to delegate work properly when needed. the last thing you want it to have the wrong people in the wrong roles, doing work that's not suited to their strengths or stretched too thin trying to pick up the slack for others on the team. Try to help your senior management find the right balance wherever they are within the company.
It’s always good to be incentivized in your job. One way to make sure that your staff members are better in being managed is by offering rewards and incentives where possible. This can be great when you’re managing a workforce because ultimately you want to keep your staff members happy. Their happiness is likely just as important or if not more important than your customers. Without your staff, you wouldn’t have a business that’s growing or successful.
You may only be a team of one right now, or running with a couple of virtual assistants. As your company grows, complexity grows with it. Making some decisions now about how to handle and manage the growth of your team lays the foundations for your company culture. It's all rooted in what your company stands for, and managing your team as it grows needs to be rooted in that vision.
If you need support growing or managing your team, the Creative Freedom Incubator can help. From basic business foundations to back-end operations, marketing, and admin support, we're here to provide the resources you need to have a profitable, sustainable business doing what you love.