A strong and
effective management team in place is essential for the growth and success of
any company. As the founder of a small business or a newly appointed executive
of an established company, you know you cannot do everything on your own, and
you will need a skilled group of experts who can help you run the company.
Build a management team by assessing which skills and talents you need,
recruiting leaders to work with you and giving them the authority and
flexibility to make decisions for your business.
Examine the state of your company. Assessing the needs of your company is one of the most
important things in building a good management team. Without this key
assessment, you won’t know what sort of people you need to grow your company.
Most importantly, assessing the state of your company will help you determine
your management weaknesses and strengths.
Construct an organizational chart
that focuses on manager responsibility.
Creating an organizational chart for your company will help you to identify
which managers are responsible for which aspects of your business. You might
find out that you have overlap or you are lacking key personnel to manage an
aspect of your organization. Fundamentally, an organizational chart will help
you visualize your company and get a better idea of where you have gaps in
leadership.
Develop a strategic plan. Without a strategic plan, you won’t know where your
business will be in the short and long term, and as a result, you won’t know
what sort of managers you’ll need to meet your goals. Once you’ve developed
your strategic plan, you’ll be better able to identify your management team
needs.
- Determine the state of your business.
- Plan where you want to be in 1, 5 and 10 years.
- Decide what you need to do to get there. Does this involve expanding into a new market?
Understand your own weaknesses as a
leader. This is perhaps one of the most
important steps in creating a successful management team. After all, the buck
stops with you. You can’t know or do everything. Don’t see your weaknesses as a
strength. Fundamentally, understand your weaknesses and take steps to remedy
those weaknesses.
- Spend some time reflecting on your own weaknesses to determine what sort of help you’ll need running your company.
- If you lack sales skills, you will need a strong Sales Director on your team.
- If accounting is not a strength, you will need a Chief Financial Officer or Finance Director.
- Be willing to include managers who are better than you at certain things. You will need to put your ego aside for the sake of your business.
Request a professional assessment
from people outside your organization.
It is very hard for people inside an organization to identify the
organization’s strengths and weaknesses. This is for several reasons, but it’s
often because we’re unable to critically evaluate ourselves. As a result, you
should request an assessment from someone outside of your organization. This
outside auditor might be able to identify weaknesses in your management team
better than you.
- Hire an outside consulting firm to assess your business and management team.
- Survey your clients on your business.
- Talk to colleagues and friends in your industry.
Get input from your people inside
your organization. Sometimes the people who best know
the problems with an organization are those within it. Make a concerted effort
to get input from your employees and partners about your company. Listening to
a wide range of opinions will help you determine who you really need on your
management team.
- Create a way for anonymous feedback and constructive criticism within your organization.
- Put together a board of advisors made up of senior managers and senior employees. Even if your business is small, having a group of advisors you can regularly rely on will help you streamline your management.
- Regularly visit and talk to and listen to your employees – at all levels.
Assess your current management team. This might seem like something you don't want to do, but in
order to go forward, you need to assess your current team to see if they meet
or exceed the skills and performance you need to meet your goals and achieve
your strategic plan.
- If a current manager does not measure up, consider letting them go, demoting them, or reassigning them to a position that better suits their skill set.
- If current managers seem gifted and skilled but are in the wrong position, reassign them to positions that will allow them to use their talents the best.
- Communicate with your managers throughout the assessment process, try to be transparent, and treat your managers with respect.
Create a list of positions you need
to improve or create. Using all of the information you’ve
gathered, implement change and create the best management team possible for
your organization. Don’t be afraid to let people go, demote people, have people
switch positions, or even promote junior employees above more senior employees.
Your goal is to create the best management team you can.
