How to invest in your people

William Berry looks at building a successful team quickly but effectively.

As small companies grow rapidly, the constant demand for new employees across the organisation can become a problem. Hiring quickly may fill a gap, but how do you ensure that you find appropriate new staff that will work well within the existing team? And how do you ensure that your business grows without losing its ethos and efficiency along the way?

The first thing to do is face the problem head on and delegate. The majority of staff working in a small company, including yourself, are likely to be maxed out fulfilling their own roles, and so are unlikely to have spare time to assist with hiring and training. Look for an experienced office manager with strong organisational skills who will not only handle the day-to-day management of the office, but also deal with human resources issues, such as recruitment and basic office training. This will mean that other employees can continue with their work rather than losing sleep over the new staff.

If you are looking for employees for customer-facing roles, a good timesaving approach is to interview in groups of ten. Invite them in and ask them to each present on a topic for you. This will help sort the wheat from the chaff and will help demonstrate essential skills such as initiative, amicability and dynamics – important qualities for staff that will be required to work in a busy and growing team environment without spoon-fed guidance.

For other roles, try using psychometric testing or basic English/Maths tests which can help filter down candidates so that you only have to spend one-on-one time with the best applicants.

If hiring is becoming a major part of your business activity, you could consider hiring a full-time recruitment manager. If so, it’s worth paying a little bit more for someone who knows the recruitment industry and can bring a fresh approach to the role. This is often preferable to using an agency, not least because of the money you’ll save in commission.

It’s important to ensure you don’t neglect your current staff whilst you hire. You will find that people work better in an environment which is nurturing, so try to have regular one-to-one and team motivational meetings so that all staff, new and old, feel part of the company’s progression and comfortable enough to raise concerns when they need to.

Incentives and perks can also help to maintain a positive, reciprocal environment. Providing healthy food in the office such as smoothies and cereal bars can make staff members feel energised and well looked after, while subsidized membership to a local gym can help you take the healthy body, healthy mind ethos to the next level.

In summary, building a well-functioning, happy team is fundamental to your company’s ongoing success. Make sure you have an efficient hiring process in place and then focus on making your employees feel valued and secure to ensure they give their best. An approach like this can bring benefits to your company that will be felt in years to come, as happy staff will stay loyal to your company and work towards success together.

William Berry is MD for Net121 and Communications Chair for the Entrepreneurs Organisation London (www.joineo.com).