Most companies tend to recruit for many reasons, some of which include: to acquire certain skills, to increase staff level in order to cope with business expansion, new products, or markets and to replace leaving staff. To achieve this, companies may either delegate the task to the HR department (for medium and large-scale companies with vast recruitment needs) or in a small company, the owner might handle the recruitment process themselves.
However, getting the right people is expensive, time consuming, process driven and fastidious. Therefore, when recruiting for a new employee or team member, companies may consider recruiting internally (through promotion) before opting for external candidates depending on the size of the company and recruiting needs.
In the long run, having the right people on board is critical and beneficial to the company in the following ways:
boosts brand and company’s image.
enhances the ability to provide exceptional products and services.
facilitates the smooth execution of numerous projects a company might embark upon.
How to get a team together
Pre-planning exercise
As with every important activity within a company, planning is usually the first step towards getting a team together. This entails identifying the skills gap within the company and creating personas for potential team members. Pre-planning activities helps to analyse skills and qualifications, specialisation, unique contributions/traits of individual team members, cultural fit and compatibility.
Select the team, if there is one
Setting out the criteria and expected persona for a team member makes the recruiting process easier for the HR department. Although, during the interview process, some exceptions might arise that differ from the pre-set personas.
Establish goals, objectives and responsibilities
Structure is one of the fundamentals for a strong team. It is advisable to set out the goals, objectives and responsibilities from the onset to facilitate the onboarding process of new team member(s). Factors like communication, hierarchy, leadership/reporting relationships, deliverables and timelines should be carefully considered and crafted to aid easy execution. In addition, managers will need to constantly ensure team members have the drive and are committed to their roles, otherwise the team will be setting itself for failure.
Track and monitor the team
The work does not end at getting the right team on board. As a matter of fact, it is a continuous process of assessing and monitoring the performance of each member of the team in order to optimise output. Read our article on measuring business performance: employees for more information on this subject.
Evaluation
During the evaluation stage, team/project managers may make decisions related to the operation of the team and team members, such as training and development, expanding, reducing, or restructuring the team. Evaluation often take place after conducting appraisals on employees/team members to understand their strengths, weaknesses, pain points and potentials.
The four stages of staff experience
Let’s now look into how to engage employees/team members through the four stages of staff experience which includes:
Onboarding- involves activities put in place for new team members to allow them connect with their new surrounding at the initial stage. The time frame for onboarding can range from weeks to months depending on the structure you have put in place to facilitate the process. An onboarding activity is equivalent to the first impression a team member will have of their new team, therefore, it is important to get it right by setting standards and expecta
Initial development- at this stage, new team member(s) will begin to focus on how best to contribute to the team. This might involve plans for conducting initial training activities to boost growth and development on the job.
Ongoing development and retention- this entails long-term engagement. Team members at this point will most likely explore new paths, either within the same team or a different team within the organisation, as they possess vast internal knowledge of the company as well as their job functions. Activities at this stage are targeted at team members who have spent quite a considerable number of years in the company.
Separation- refers to the point where some members of the team may decide to move to a different team or completely exit the team or the company. Companies must be ready to handle the outcome of this stage.
In summary, getting the right team may be challenging as companies must endeavour to recruit people who will fit well within the existing team but the reward of successfully selecting the right team is always worth the effort.
We, at the OVAC Group, understand the challenges and complexities involved in recruiting the right team members. If you require help with setting up a team within your company, please email us at enquries@ovacgroup.com for a free consultation.