You just hired your first (or second or third) team member… Congratulations!
You have dreams of them working together like a well-oiled machine – or at least like a happily-running, hands-off machine – but that’s not exactly how things are going.
Sure everyone is doing what they’re supposed to be doing, but it just doesn’t feel cohesive. Luckily, as the babe in charge, you have the power to turn it all around.
Let’s take a look at 4 simple hacks you can implement right away that will help your team run smoothly, efficiently and effortlessly.
#1 Get clear about your tasks, processes and goals
Before you start any project, or even let your team have at it with your everyday admin tasks, it’s important to get super clear on what needs to be done.
Why? Because in order to have your team on the same page, you need to create that page for them.
This means getting clear and setting your business standards for:
- All the tasks that need to be done
- The processes you use
- The tools you use as individuals and as a team
- Who will take care of what tasks and when
- How your workflows will work
- Your overall goals for your business
- Your goals for your individual campaigns
And anything else that you do regularly. It may seem really tedious and specific, but once you have it all figured out and your team knows what they’re doing alone and together, everything will run just as it’s supposed to.
#2 Have regular team meetings
Scheduling time to meet with your entire team will help keep everyone on track, keep the team functioning as a solid unit, and can also help build up rapport and morale.
Decide on a set weekly, bi-weekly or monthly call schedule for the entire team. And don’t forget to save a little time for praise and to talk about what’s thriving within your team! This simple step will help your team feel like a single until, even if they don’t overlap or work together often. The power of praise is amazing!
You may also want to incorporate 1:1 calls with each of your contractors. This gives them the opportunity to share privately with you. But keep goals, tasks, project info for group meetings.
#3 Have a set way to communicate
There’s nothing more chaotic than one person emailing you, one leaving comments on a shared Google doc, another person one texting you. By simply deciding how your team will communicate, you can eliminate a lot of confusion, miscommunication and back and forth messaging.
Use a project management tool that will also let your team communicate with each other such as Basecamp, Asana or Trello. Keep all tasks and convos in one, easy to access space.
You can also set up a group Voxer chat, or allow your team to contact you privately there as well. The main thing is deciding on your how and keeping everything in their set places.
#4 Hire the right people for the right jobs
You outsource because you want to be in your zone of genius.
Which means every single person on your team should also be in their zone of genius, because that is how they can best support you.
If you suspect anyone isn’t working in their zone of genius, start by having a conversation. Ask each of your contractors if they enjoy their work for you. I mean, like love, love, love the work they’re doing. It’s not the easiest conversation to have, but trust me, when people are doing work they love, they’re more excited to show up, do the work and be a part of the team.
If anyone isn’t where they should be, consider reassigning tasks if you love your team or replacing team members.
You hired a team so you can be mostly hands off. But unless your team is working well together, it can feel more disorganized than delightful. Implementing these 4 hacks will help your team run smoothly, and leave you feeling less stressed.
