How do you stay motivated and incentivize a team with very few pennies to spare? We polled our contributors for the best teamwork tips to keep 2020 on track and still enjoy the ride! The consensus? Small gestures can yield big results.
Small Gestures, Big Results for Small Business Owners and Managers
Obviously, we know it’s tough to stay on top of the day to day operations of a business. But if you only focus on tasks, it’s easy to lose sight of your most valuable asset.
The people within your business may fall to the back of the line if you’re not paying attention.
Since you can’t possibly ring up every sale, answer every call, or ship every product out the door, you rely on human beings to do their very best on your behalf.
How do you reward a team with limited funds? Let us help you start habits that may yield big benefits.
Key Small Business Teamwork Tips
1. Hit Pause Occasionally
Check In! Importantly, allow for fun when there is a break in the flow of business. Even though you could run off to do two or three more tasks, the simple act of a moment NOT about the tasks at hand can help employees feel valued. Regularly ask the people around you how they are doing. Truly, they may have a significant challenge you know nothing about.
2. Take Notes
Next, regular meetings with a team on the big picture can keep the energy focused in the right direction. By the way, taking down notes when employees have suggestions and questions, signals that you value their opinion.
3. Lend a Helping Hand
Pay attention to those employees that show effort yet still struggle. Support their efforts and give a little extra help. Maybe they they are slow with a POS system or get nervous answering questions. Perhaps they just need a little more training or even just a confidence boost with positive feedback. It’s simple, kind, and absolutely free.
Simple Teamwork Tips for Entrepreneurs
By definition, an Entrepreneur is generally a very driven and focused person. Those are FANTASTIC quality traits for getting started, but sometimes these traits can get you in trouble without a few gentle reminders.
So here are a few tips for the growth-minded Entrepreneur…
1. Identify Your Bread & Butter Clients
It’s so tempting to focus on growth on all days, in all ways. But don’t forget the clients that got you started or are your biggest supporters.
Without them, you may not have gotten your venture off the ground. Reward their loyalty with a little gift, a shoutout, a personal thank you note. Remember … small gestures, big results!
2. A Little Fun Goes A Long Way In Fostering Teamwork
If you have a team, but not necessarily employees, then perhaps some bonding time would be more appropriate than gifts.
Believe me, no one wants to be “on” 24/7. A happy hour meet-up can do wonders when everyone is getting frazzled and stretched too thin.
A little fun can go a LONG way during even the most stressful times.
3. Recognize Your Personal Support System
Even if it’s literally just you, chances are you have a support system. And if you’re an entrepreneur, the people who support you OUTSIDE of the office are the same ones who are affected by your time IN the office.
A partner who desperately needs you to put the phone down and be truly present for one shared meal…
A BFF who’s been cancelled on too many times recently and will drop everything if you say “Let’s meet up!”…
Or maybe kids who could use an ice cream cone and a short walk on the beach just to check in.
Nothing at the office really matters too much if your personal support system falls apart. Consider these people your team and schedule time to treat them accordingly.
What We’ve Learned As a Team of Contributors
Everyone wants to find that single tip that lightens their load. That piece of advice that rings true. Or a particular observation they never noticed before.
Realistically though, we all know deep down that it comes down to a few basic tenants of humanity. Trust, desire to improve, and a common bond.
These few tips are part of our secret sauce to working well together for the long haul.
Teamwork Tips for a Team of Contributors
1. Trust Your Team and Check-In
In the very beginning, our contributors learned to trust each other. Yep, we had to take a leap of faith and dive in. We decided to hold hands while we jumped since we all had an area where we were comfortable and others that were unfamiliar.
As a group, we continue to prop each other up. We allow for the best of each of us to shine while helping each other develop along the way.
Our advice? Whether you have a small business or work for someone else, it’s important to trust someone to do their best and help them if they fall short. If you have an employee that struggles, support them.
2. Leave Your Ego At The Door
Who doesn’t want to get better and better? Seriously, you have to be able to receive constructive criticism in order to grow. Team feedback is driven by intention. Without an ego, it is about the work and not the person. Trust that process!
Recognize opportunity! We have found the opportunity to improve on moments of disagreement. When we can’t see each other’s points of view or otherwise just don’t like or understand something, we take breathers or timeouts. Consequently, a moment to simply think about what was suggested can yield new insight. Truly, allowing for space to think yielded lightbulb moments and solved a few particulary challenging obstacles.
Opportunity is born out of a desire to create better material. As a team, our work is always improved by finding the cracks in the mortar. If we are open to the feedback, we produce significantly better work than if we contributed in a vacuum and simply submitted and walked away. Honestly, this approach strains our perceived deadlines at times but is always worth efforts.
3. Teamwork Is Having a Common Goal
Since most successful teams have a clear goal, every member of your team should be able to easily tell you what it is. We’ve found it useful to collectively pick a Theme Word for the year that really describes where we want to keep our focus. Read more about that process in the post Why You Should Ditch The New Years Resolution In 2020.
We don’t share an office, and our contributors live all over the state. When we can all describe in one word what we’re working towards this year, creativity stays directed toward a common goal.
A Few Resources Beyond Our Teamwork Tips You May Find Helpful
- Hubspot is a reputable business marketing resource worth investigating. Granted, it may be more focused on larger businesses or executives but you can easily search their blog for specific topics. Click here for a helpful article on team collaboration.
- We will always utilize Pinterest to share not only our best tips and advice but also motivational pins. Feel free to follow our Motivation Pinterest Board to get you inspired. Subscribe to Savvy Cali Girl to get notified when we launch a new section free for members with downloadable, detailed resources and motivation pins, tweets, etc..
- Click here to get to a Forbes.com article specifically geared toward existing teams and changing behaviors. It provides some very specific steps and even has a few great embedded tweets you may want to utilize.
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