How Small Teams Can Achieve Big Results
Houston Business Consulting for Women Entrepreneurs
CEO Andrea Cohen, about how a small team can get big results. Cohen says that she was informed by a background that included working in both large and small businesses.
“My previous roles meant I was developing small teams within big corporate environments or building a small team in a small organization,” Cohen says. “I realized the abilities of a small niche team were greater than those of big, clumsy, less efficient ones. I find that too many team members leads to poor communication and ineffective and often reduced productivity.”
1. Take a holistic approach to training and education. - Cohen has found that her team members can perform better in their assigned roles and take on more responsibility if they understand all facets of the business
“Unlike big teams and big businesses, I try to offer a rounded education, so everyone gets to see the workings of a small business," she says. "This, I believe, helps everyone deliver the same goal.”
I have observed the same with many clients. If the marketing team understands design and vice versa, and both understand the financial implications of the business, it’s more likely to get everyone working towards, and achieving, bigger goals.
2. If you’re the CEO, delegate. - Cohen knows that small businesses where the CEO is too caught up in details are bound to stay small.
“Early on in the business’s history, I became aware that I was micromanaging and I knew that if I didn’t free up my role, we would always be chasing our tails and remaining the same size," she says. "I realized that I needed to concentrate on increasing brand coverage and seeking new opportunities that would give us a positive competitive advantage.”
“I gave each of my staff a more defined job role and wrote one out for myself too,” she says. “Team members set out to achieve through their roles and I just oversee and check that we are on time, on schedule and on budget.”
3. Give more work to the busiest people. - Cohen learned an important lesson on productivity for small business while working at her grandfather’s clothing factory in the summers of her youth.
“One year, I watched a management consultant hired to carry out a work-study program to measure each staff member’s productivity," she says. "This was designed to see weaknesses in the tailoring production line. The results astounded me. There were machinists that were working at a much slower pace, therefore holding up the line. Moving these employees to a less complicated line and offering them advanced training increased productivity by 30 percent.
"I also learned that there were certain employees that seemed to have two different roles, like tailoring and production-line quality," she continues. "The manager always went straight to these employees with new tasks. When I told my mother of my observations, she said ‘Andrea, if you always give a job to the busiest person, you will guarantee it gets done.' It’s a great mantra for entrepreneurs and their best employees.”
4. Build alliances. - Creating strategic relationships can open new and big doors for small business that can be built and executed quickly through the nimbleness of a smaller team
5. Break goals and tasks into bite-sized tasks. - The best way for small businesses to get big results is to think in terms of big goals, but execute small milestones. Cohen says that regardless of the end goal, just focus on the goals at hand and cut them down to bite-sized tasks that are easy to complete before a set deadline. Additionally, to be able to achieve these goals, a small team has to prioritize them
Source: Entrepreneur
Patty Block, President and Founder of The Block Group, established her company to advocate for women-owned businesses, helping them position their companies for strategic growth. Charting the course for impactful, sustainable, profitable businesses, the beacon is control: of your strategic direction, your money, your time, your staffing, and your ability to bring in business. The Block Group brings together the people, resources and ideas that build results.
Houston Business Consulting for Women Entrepreneurs.
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