Building a Strong Team: Human Capital Considerations

When Scaling Your Business

Have you ever wondered why some businesses scale smoothly while others falter along the way? Or, to ask the question on a more personal level, do you wonder why it seems like the more energy you put into your business, the less momentum you seem to have? You've got big ideas and a great vision, and you've assembled talented people around you. So why aren't you scaling as you should?

The answer could be many reasons, but in a lot of cases, it comes down to the fact that you're not maximizing your human capital efficiently.

Imagine your business as a ship. You're the captain, steering towards uncharted territories in search of new opportunities. But who's manning the sails? Who's navigating? Who's keeping the deck clean and uncluttered? Who's cooking the meals? That's your crew - your human capital.

Now, imagine that you've assembled a great crew, but they aren't working together effectively. What happens when the sailors are unsure of their roles, or worse yet, don't know how to communicate with each other? What if the cook tries to navigate, or vice versa?

Human capital isn't just a fancy term for your employees. It refers to the collective knowledge, skills, and abilities that your team members bring to the table. It's what keeps your ship moving and on course. Without a skilled and motivated crew, even the most well-designed ship would languish in the doldrums and go nowhere.

In simpler terms, human capital is the combined strength of your team. And just like any valuable asset your company has, making the most of that strength requires careful leadership, management, and investment. That's why mastering the skills of effective team building is critical to generating the momentum you need to scale your business. It's also why, when I take on a new client, one of the first things I look at is how the team is structured and how we can improve that structure so no energy is wasted.

Let's discuss some key elements to building a strong team and leveraging their strengths to their maximum potential.

Establishing the Right Organizational Structure

A common mistake I see companies make with regard to structure is starting with the people they have and then building a structure around them instead of aligning the structure of the company around the core functions of the business and then putting people in the various seats. That's why we start the scaling process by helping you develop an organizational structure that aligns with the core functions of your business.

What are the core functions? Every business wins work, does work, and gets paid for work. These three core functions – sales and marketing, operations, and finance – exist in every business, and your leadership team needs to be structured so that you have a clearly defined seat accountable for each of them. Depending on your industry, you may have additional core functions—for example, we often see a talent seat in “people businesses” – however, in identifying your core functions, less is more as it increases organizational focus.

By creating these seats on your leadership team and aligning your structure accordingly, you will have a single point of accountability on your leadership team for each core function and everyone will know what they are responsible for and can take ownership of it. There's no confusion, no overlap, and no neglected tasks. This critical first step ensures the engine of your business is properly connected for maximum effectiveness and efficiency.

Assessing Your Team: Finding Strengths and Optimal Functionality

Before you can know how best to build your team, you need to understand the people on your team--namely, their strengths, their talents, and how they function best. Just as importantly, your teammates need to understand one another so they can work better together. I've found assessments like DiSC and Kolbe to be invaluable in this regard. These assessments can provide valuable insights into your employees' personalities, learning styles, and strengths--insights that can help you understand how your team members work best, which can lead to improved productivity and job satisfaction.

The Right People in the Right Seats

It's not enough just to have a great team; those team members need to be positioned in a way that plays to their strengths. You'd be surprised at how many times I see a business with an amazing lineup of talent, but the business is floundering just because the wrong people are in the wrong seats. Sometimes this simple adjustment is all that's needed to lock the gears in place and give the company real momentum.

When your team members are in roles that match their strengths and personalities, they are more likely to be engaged, productive, and satisfied in their work. This not only boosts your business performance but also cultivates a positive work environment.

Fostering Healthy Communication

Let's circle back to the ship analogy for a moment. What happens on a ship if the crew can't work together? What if there are language barriers and they can't communicate? What if the navigator notices you've gone off course but is afraid to speak up? What if there's constant conflict on board because of differing opinions or misunderstandings? The result: chaos.

If you've got a good team in place, to begin with, most issues can be resolved with a culture of open communication. The assessments I mentioned above go a long way toward helping break down barriers between employees, so they understand one another better. But it's more than that. You want to create an environment where ideas flow freely, where every voice is heard, and where conflicts can be resolved through open dialogue and mutual respect.

Goals and Accountability

Finally, to make the most of your human capital, you need to set clear goals and hold the team accountable to meet those goals – creating an environment where accountable people thrive. When your team members have a shared understanding of what needs to be done and how their individual roles contribute to those goals, there is a sense of purpose and direction in the workplace. And when individuals are held accountable for their actions, it ensures that everyone is pulling their weight and working towards the same goal.

Ongoing Training and Development

Humans are like plants in that if we aren't growing, we start to wither. To truly maximize the collective strengths of your team also requires an environment where they can continually grow and learn, and where there is room for advancement. Luckily, a scaling company is one that provides ample opportunity to its employees for growth as the leadership and management ranks expand. Coupled with a culture that fosters ongoing training critical for your team to evolve with the ever-changing business landscape, you can create a positive feedback loop where your people are trained to create a scaling business which in turn creates more opportunity for your people who are then trained to take advantage of the newly created growth opportunities.

The End Goal: Scaling

As you have seen here, building a strong team makes a business healthier--but how, exactly, does it help you scale? Let's look at a few keyways:

• Team efficiency. When your human capital is maximized, your team can do more work in less time and with less effort, leaving more bandwidth to accommodate growth and expansion.

• Ability to replicate. Once you have a solid team structure in place, you can essentially replicate that model as you expand with minimal effort. If scaling involves expanding to different locations and branches, for example, you'll know how to build strong teams over and over again to run each of those locations.

• More freedom in the day-to-day. Perhaps the most important advantage for you is that a strong team effectively runs itself. This gives you less involvement in the day-to-day so you have the time and bandwidth to ideate--more time to dream big, focusing on how and where to scale.

In the end, your company is only as strong as your team. You can attract the most talented people on the planet, but talent without structure is just wasted energy. That's why a huge part of what we do at Odyssey Advisors is to focus on effective team building so you can make the most of your human capital and find the momentum to make your awesome easy. Are you ready to start scaling? Email me at mark@odysseyadvisors.com, and let's have a conversation about changing your life.