Building Strong Teams - A Key to Business Success

When you think about what makes business successful, most people probably think it's the products or services a company offers. Perhaps that was true 25 or so years ago, but it's quite different today. With more and more companies offering more and m1C48ore variations of literally millions of products, brand loyalty doesn't carry much weight these days. So what is it that gives a company in competitive edge. I think it's the people, how well they're trained, and most importantly, how well they work together.

Think of the acronym TEAM: Together Everyone Achieves More. Anytime business leaders can get all their employees focuses on a common goal, and work together to achieve that goal, incredible things can happen. In a society that thrives on individual accomplishment, I believe the greatest success can only come when people on a team work together. At the sake of being cliche, I'm going to offer a sports analogy to substantiate my point.

In 1998, the Seattle Mariners won 76 games and finished 3rd in their division. After the season they lost arguably one of the best pitchers in baseball, Randy Johnson, to free agency. The next season they won 79 games and again finished 3rd in their division. At the end of the season they lost yet another superstar, Ken Griffey Jr., probably the best centerfielder in the game. The next season, 2000, they won 92 games and finished in 2nd place. Yet again, at the end of the season they lost another superstar. This time it was Alex Rodriquez, undoubtedly the best individual player in the game. He signed the largest contract of all time, $250 million for 10 years. And how did the Mariners do the next year; they won 116 games, tying the record for the most wins all-time for a season. No longer depending on the individual accomplishments of it's three superstars, the Mariners came together as a true team to accomplish one of the greatest seasons of all time.

So how does this apply to business? Well, here's what I believe teams give an organization.

An empowered workforce; there's no need for superstars when all your employees feel that they contribute directly their organizations success.

Greater job satisfaction; employees that feel they are contributing are more satisfied with their jobs, have better attendance, are less likely to look for a new job, and generally have an attitude of winning.

Flexibility; organizations that take time to train and develop the contribution potential of all their employees are much more flexible. Thus they are better able to react to changing market conditions and more effectively stay ahead of their competition.

Improved performance (i.e., safety, quality, product cost, customer service); employees who come to work regularly, received adequate training, and are made to feel a part of an organization almost automatically perform better. It's disgruntled employees, not satisfied ones, that are more likely to produce poor quality products or give unacceptable customer service.

Longer term company stability and profitability; all these things in turn provide long term company stability, and in turn, profitability. After all, companies are in business to make money. Why not try allowing your employees to work together as an empowered work force? You'll be amazed at the success.

Steve Lay has nearly 20 years of experience in building teams in the manufacturing environment, and is now developing those team building skills in the network marketing business. He's currently studying how to improve his skills in network marketing, then build his network marketing team using his past business experience.

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