• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Submissions
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Aug 12, 2022
  • Startup
    • Creating a Plan
    • Funding a Startup
    • Franchise Center
    • Getting Your Office Ready
    • Making Your Business Official
    • Marketing Your New Business
    • Personal Readiness
  • Run & Grow
    • Customer Service
    • Human Resources
    • Innovation
    • Legal
    • Operations
    • Risk Management
  • Leadership
    • Best Practices
    • Communication
    • Green Initiatives
    • Open Culture
    • Strategic Planning
    • People Skills
  • Sales & Marketing
    • Advertising and Lead Generation
    • Marketing Innovations
    • Marketing Plans
    • Online Marketing
    • Relationships
    • Sales Activities
  • Finance
    • Budgeting and Personal Finance
    • Payments and Collections
    • Tax and Accounting
    • Pricing Strategy
    • Working with Investors
    • Working with Lenders
  • Tech
    • eCommerce
    • Hardware
    • Software
    • Security
    • Tech Reviews
    • Telecom
  • Shop

SmallBizClub

Helping You Succeed

Home / Leadership / People Skills / Building a Team through Shared Goals
Building a Team through Shared Goals

Building a Team through Shared Goals

8122 Views

Mar 25, 2013 By Fran Tarkenton

For any business to succeed, you have to build a team that works together. That team includes you as the business owner, any employees you have, your vendors, your partners—everyone who is part of running your business. When it comes to building that team, although talent is important, a cohesive group that sticks together is the number one priority.

Of course, everybody that you bring on needs to have the ability to do what you need them to do. At a most fundamental level, your team members must be capable. On a football team, you have to start with people who have a basic level of ability. In the NFL, your players have to have professional-level ability. But among that group of people with the necessary skill, it is very tempting to immediately chase after whoever is at the top of the pile: the most accomplished, skilled, gifted, talented person you can find. In sports, you immediately go after the biggest name, the guy with all the awards and accolades.
But that’s not the best approach. Someone might be incredibly gifted—but not fit in with your style. There might be a personality clash. Or they might have a different vision for what they should be doing than you do. To relate again to a football team, someone might fit in better on one style of team than another, or thrive when asked to do one thing but struggle at others. Performance will not translate exactly from situation to situation. You have to look at how the pieces fit.
Your team should be built around people who trust one another, who are not only willing to work with one another but who complement one another with their skills and thinking. And when you’re the business owner, it is on you to see this team come together.

David Rock is the director of the NeuroLeadership Institute, and he believes that one of the most important things for a leader to do (and the way in which a leader can accomplish the most) is to build a team. The team is all about forming an “in-group,” he says, and the way to do that is to establish shared goals, a shared vision. “When you can find a shared goal, you turn an ‘out’ group into an ‘in’ group,” he told the New York Times. “Many people have had a boss they really wanted to work hard for because they respected them. . . And I think those bosses have worked hard to have a sense of relatedness with people, which comes from having shared goals and making sure there’s a feeling of being on the same team, not a sense of ‘us’ and ‘them.’”

You need great people. You need smart, capable employees. You need to have talented players on your team. But talent isn’t enough. The pieces need to fit, to work together and make each other better. Teams win. Individuals lose. And when you’re the boss, it’s up to you to build a winning team of people who want to work with you, who share your vision, and who can get the job done.

Filed Under: People Skills Tagged With: Culture, Hiring, Leadership, Managing Employees, Philosophy, Setting Goals

Fran Tarkenton

Fran Tarkenton

Fran Tarkenton is an entrepreneur and NFL Hall of Famer, and the founder of Tarkenton Companies. Fran has always had a passion for small business, and has started more than 20 businesses since retiring from the NFL. His efforts to provide knowledge and tools to small business have been a full time undertaking since 1996, and he is the driving force behind GoSmallBiz.com, Click2Corp.com and Tarkenton Financial. These sites all grew from Fran's desire to help fellow entrepreneurs gain access to the tools and information they need to grow and compete in the modern economy. You can see more about what Fran is doing at http://www.tarkenton.com, follow him on Twitter @Fran_Tarkenton, or connect with him on Google +.

Related Posts

  • How to Hire the Best People for Your Team
  • good-accounting-habits-for-small-business-ownersRunning a Small Business is Hard, But It Doesn’t Have to Be Complicated
  • 5 Ways to Overcome Startup Hurdles

Primary Sidebar

Random

Why and How to Align Your Team Through Brand Values

Aug 11, 2022 By Luke Britton

Why Businesses Should Treat Employee Burnout as a Risk Management Issue

Aug 11, 2022 By Andrew Deen

From Beat Cop to Entrepreneur: A Unique Startup Story

Aug 10, 2022 By SmallBizClub

a-startup-goldmine--combining-healthcare-and-technology

‍9 Tips for Making Your Healthcare Business More Successful

Aug 9, 2022 By Charlotte Sylvester

employment-practices-liability

‍5 Business Liabilities That Can Cause You A Ton Of Trouble

Aug 9, 2022 By Jeremy Bowler

Footer

About Us

Small Biz Club is the premier destination for small business owners and entrepreneurs. To succeed in business, you have to constantly learn about new things, evaluate what you’re doing, and look for ways to improve—that’s what we’re here to help you do.

  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • RSS
  • Twitter

Copyright © 2022 by Tarkenton Institute, Inc. All Rights Reserved | Terms | Privacy