There are two ways in which you can develop your team - hire in or make the most of the people you have already.
Building your team by recruiting new people may seem the easiest route at first. You identify the skills that you think you're missing and then go out to find someone who can plug the gap in the team. Very often, this turns out to be a highly driven, self-motivated, go-getter who will get out there, get the business and close the deals.
As in cooking, balance is everything
The trouble starts if you already have several of these in your team. If there are too many highly competitive individuals, they will become obsessed with how they are doing compared to their team mate, rather than how they are doing in terms of the business. Let's face it, too many stars in a team is like too much seasoning in a dish. You want a balance of ingredients that work together, and it's up to you to get the mix right.
For example, some people are great at getting instructions on a new sale or letting and writing wonderful marketing copy for Rightmove and Zoopla. Provided the sale happens quickly, they'll see it through. But they’re not so good if things get bogged down and they have to show the property for the twentieth time. They lose interest even when commission is at stake. So it's essential to have at least one “Completer / Finisher" on your team. These tend to be steady types who will stick with a property no matter how many viewings, until they finally sell or let it.
Developing your in-house team
It can be far more cost-effective to develop your existing team individually and as a group. Team building activities can be amazingly effective in building a group of people who will support each other and go the extra mile for the business. Just be careful that you are not asking people to get involved in any activity that they might find objectionable.
Some of the most effective teambuilding, which gets round these possible problems, is to get the team to do something for someone else. Even better, ask them to suggest what the activity might be. If it's helping out a charity, which charity do they want to help and what do they want to do? Although it might not seem like it, these are all development activities in which you're asking them to work together, be creative, consider their core values and act effectively.
Because this is not business as usual, it’s an ideal opportunity to give people a taste of a different role. If someone has expressed an interest in handling publicity in the agency, task them with publicising the charitable team building event. It gives them an opportunity to see whether they like doing it and you an opportunity to see whether they have a flair for it.
Make it interesting
Instead of a series of predictable courses on marketing, why not send someone on the National Crime Agency’s course on how to detect money laundering, and get them to present to the team when they return? This cascade model of development also works well because it gives the presenter some useful experience in talking in front of a group.
Team development has to be ongoing and engaging - and the ideas from the team about how to do it may be some of the best you come across.
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