As a manager and business owner I can look back at the successes, the difficulties, the proud moments (and the not so proud) and reflect on the teams supporting me, the superstars, and the ones that didnÍt quite have the runs on the board. Among all those I found a pattern that I thought I would share with you. Every time we did well, we had a great team, and every time we didnÍt do so well, we did not have the best possible team.

I can hear you say ñnaturally, so whatÍs new?î What I found was every time we had a good team it was not by accident, and every time our team fell short, it was also no accident. Each time we had a good team, we had planted the right tree, and we nurtured it well. Here is what we did:

1. Recruit meticulously
Getting active and productive employees has to start with the right recruitment. Sometimes, recruiting occurs under pressure, someone resigns and an immediate replacement is sought. Perhaps sudden changes in business volume or circumstances necessitate an immediate hiring decision. Recruiting under pressure can result in recruiting the best available candidate, rather than the best candidate. To be meticulous in recruiting means to go back to the drawing board every time you need to recruit. You need to ask questions. What is the job that I really need done? What are the best qualities that are needed to fulfil that task? What are the short term needs, and the long term needs of the business? What does this team need to bear good fruit?

With these questions, you will be close to knowing what youÍre looking for, and you will be closer to getting that right person. Never, ever recruit the best of a bad lot. If you canÍt find what youÍre looking for, recheck the requirements of the business, recheck your assumptions about short term and long term needs, and recheck they way you went about advertising the job. Make the necessary refinements, and start the recruitment process again.

2. Induct properly
A proper induction will cover all the information the employee needs to know before starting the job. You must cover introductions to the work environment, other employees, customers, suppliers, company policies, service and production standards and expectations, and most importantly, information about Occupational Health and Safety.

A thorough checklist of all the items to cover is highly recommended in order to ensure that nothing is missed. Remember, the induction is all about information the new employee must know before the job gets started and helping them become a fully functioning and integrated member of the team.

3. Train comprehensively
Comprehensive training simply means, no guessing. That is, no guessing whether the new employee has been taught how to do any task. No guessing whoÍs going to be conducting the training, how much will be taught on any given day, and what standard is expected to be achieved. Having a comprehensive training plan must also include the questions: who needs what skills and why? How will we measure the success of the training? What will be the next step, by whom, and when?

4. Encourage continuously
Just cast your mind back to your childhood, trying to learn to ride a bicycle. Do you remember falling off and walking away? Or, do you remember trying again and again? Was it because you wanted to, or was it because of the continual encouragement of your trainer, whether it was mum, dad, brother, sister or friend? It was that continual encouragement that resulted in persistence to try again.  

5. Revisit diligently
Training is not a once off, it is a continual process of learning. Without diligent revisiting, knowledge could become stale, neglected or detrimentally improvised upon. Assessing for knowledge and skills and then revisiting the training is part of the process. Revisiting your training plans for your team (and yourself) is also critical because times change, the talent pool changes, the business needs change, and your customer expectations change.

6. Lead personally
As a business owner or manager, you must create a culture around training and learning. You set the culture by being an effective role model for the behaviour and standards that you expect from your teams. Your team will not believe that youÍre serious about what you say until they see you doing what youÍre asking them to do. When you do that, the culture in your business will be a culture of ñdoingî, rather than a culture of ñtheoretically, thatÍs what weÍre supposed to do, however, what we really do is … something different.î

7. Repeat regularly
Changes in staff, circumstances, or the business environment are always inevitable. You have to plan for all those changes, they fall broadly into three categories:

• Internal changes that cover the growth in the business, resignations and or promotions
• External changes that include growth in the complexity of the business and its environment
• Future changes including succession planning

All of these will mean going back to the recruiting process again, and repeating the training wheel. Failing to follow the process will risk the quality of your team, and eventually the integrity of your product or service.

Just like the training wheels on the old bicycle, never remove them until the skill becomes intuitive. That is, the skills of the recruits, and more importantly, the skills of those entrusted with recruitment, training and managing the staff.

Nader Seifen is a former franchisee, consultant and advisor to franchisees and franchisors.