How to build a cohesive team

Reading Time: 4 minutes “How do I get my staff to work cohesively as a team?” This is one of the most frequent questions my partner and I get from clients. Let’s waste no time getting to the good stuff. Here are 3 things your team may be asking themselves and answering them could greatly help team cohesion.

1. “How do we win the game?” Every team needs to know what it means to win. Does your store win when you make a certain amount of money or profit, or exceed average retail goals, or meet certain client numbers? There are many ways to define success. Define success for your team in one or two goals you want them to hit by the end of the year and be specific.
2. “What happens if we win the game?” So the team puts some points on the board (meaning they hit the goal you set out for them). What happens then? If there is an incentive to be gained, let them know that now. A team feels dejected when they win a game and there is no celebration.
3. “What part do I play in the game?” Every member of your team has a part to play and something to contribute. Remind each person what part they play and remind the rest of your team why their part matters. Maybe your jeweler in the back isn’t closing sales, but you can’t deliver some of the most time-sensitive jobs without them. Your inventory manager may be in the back doing data work all day, but without them, your sales team wouldn’t have the best products available and their sell-thru rate would drop. As a leader, remind everyone about why everyone brings value.

A simple way to do this is during a weekly staff meeting. Gather the team, including the admin and non-salespeople, and start by quickly going through all the points above. Take no more than 5 minutes doing this. Remind them of the goal for the month as well as how far along you are to achieving that goal. Remind them of the value it brings everyone on the team to hit the goal. Pick 1 or 2 people out and remind the team what they do in the business to make the goal happen. One of the best ways to do that is to point out a specific way you saw that person add value to the team and the goal that week. This is a simple meeting structure you can use to help the team become more cohesive and work towards a common goal. However, it is just that – a structure – and the real secret in this sauce is how you use the structure to build your team. Transparency, honesty, integrity, active listening – these are all tools you can use to make the structure work well. We call it leadership development, and if you’d like some resources that help you grow your team with a bit of structure each week, check out what we have to offer at TrainRetailManagement.com. Good luck out there, and keep growing the awesome business you’ve always dreamed of!