In a recent Small Business Trends article, Team Building: Getting the Message Across Without Micromanaging we get some good reminders about why communication is important, especially in small businesses.
The article discusses the fact that business owners need a team to execute the running of the entire business. It also iterates the need for the team to be managed. Managing your working team does not translate to micromanagement.
Even the smartest group requires clear standards and leadership (and micro-managing is not the same thing as leadership). Managing your people takes time on the front end, but it creates momentum on the back end.
With a well-chosen and well-trained team you can move faster, be in more places at once and serve more people.
According to the article what matters is the clear communication and reiteration of expectations and motivation. Sometimes new teams have a difficult time getting started. That’s a great time to participate in a team adventure that can be custom designed to communicate your desires for the team and bond them to a common purpose.
We have found that many of our team adventures at Workshop, the Creative Workplace result in a committed team that plays the song they write together at the start of each meeting. Many times teams that have done something special for one of our community causes continue to give more and be more long after the team has bonded.
The result is a strong team committed to common purpose who are working towards common goals that have been clearly communicated.
Stephanie Ringer, May 17, 2012
