How to Build Strong Teams and a Culture That Drives Growth

By kgrunsfeld@hightoweradvisors.com on January 24, 2023

If you are having a difficult time finding employees for your business, you are certainly not alone. As of November, last year, a full 90% of small business owners who were surveyed reported that there were few or no qualified applicants for the positions they were trying to fill.[i] And in the U.S. overall, there were 67 workers for every 100 open jobs.[ii]

When business owners and their teams can’t find the employees they need, it usually causes stress, proves costly and time-consuming, and hinders growth. But on the plus side, it can also encourage creativity — for example, hiring talent from different areas of the country or with more diverse backgrounds than what may have otherwise been considered.

Talent shortages provide another benefit: highlighting the importance of retaining and investing in your current employees, both to avoid attrition and help your company reach its full potential.

To help business owners and their teams do just that, we hosted renowned performance coach and author Dr. Kevin Elko to share his insights on the factors that contribute to successful teams. In addition to consulting companies — including those in the Fortune 500 — in the areas of leadership, goal setting and performance, Dr. Elko has also worked with various NFL and BCS National Championship teams. This experience has provided him valuable perspective on what motivates people and differentiates the most successful teams. 

Here are some of the main team-building themes he discussed:

• The critical role a shared vision plays
• The importance of the personal purposes behind teams’ shared visions
• Driving individuals’ success through encouragement versus criticism
• How a lack of feeling connected leads to anxiety, stress and workforce attrition
• The effectiveness of being “interested” rather than “interesting” in your interactions and relationships
• Identifying and cultivating individuals’ unique talents  

To learn more about these concepts — and Dr. Elko’s “think like a gardener, act like a carpenter” construct for implementing them — watch Top Performing Teams and Resilience for Business Owners and Their Teams.

For additional insights and resources for you and your company, please reach out to us. As a financial planning practice focused on serving business owners, connecting you at each phase of your business-owning journey with solutions is critical to our mission of helping you achieve what matters most to you.

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Disclosures

[i] National Federation of Independent Business, “Small Businesses Struggle with Inflation, Labor Shortages,” November 8, 2022, https://www.nfib.com/content/press-release/economy/small-businesses-struggle-with-inflation-labor-shortages/. Accessed January 18, 2023.

[ii] U.S. Chamber of Commerce, “America Works Data Center,” January 13, 2023. https://www.uschamber.com/workforce/america-works-data-center. Accessed January 18, 2023.