The mark of a good business owner is not just by the profits they make but by the kind of leadership they imbibe into the business and amongst the team. In order to build a business that is scalable and profitable, the existence of a solid team that is both committed and competent to the business venture is an absolute necessity. It is the business owner’s duty to ensure the sanctity and productivity of the team by making sure the mentorship and management systems are on point. But just like all good things, this too has its fair share of issues that need to be sorted for the smooth functioning of teams and eventually successful businesses. Below are some of the most common problems that business owners face when it comes to fruitfully manage and mentoring their teams. Let’s have a look at how to solve these frequently cropping up problems:
Transition and Trust
As a business owner, it is a good idea to shift to a different role after being rooted in a role for a long period of time. It allows you to take things on a different level and also delegate your role to someone else. But what happens to the team when such a transition happens suddenly? They are used to being under the wing of the long-standing business owner and his role. It is uneasy for them to immediately accept a new person as a leader and put all their faith in them. It is an understandable challenge.
How to solve this? The key here is a transition. The change for the team needs to be smooth instead of being sudden. Set the context. Gather your team and address the need for the change in the first place. Rather than your team resisting, you need to get them to accept and be open to this change. This will only happen when they are fully on the same page as you. They need to understand the new role that the business owner would be taking up and why that is important for the venture. Describe to the team, the clarity of role that the new person would be taking up, the things that will remain the same in their job profile, and the things that will change.
So, don’t just drop the bomb. Make the transition easy for both the team and the new employee. Be involved in the meetings and bring everyone to the same page before driving the change. Be supportive of the new team member and make sure they are equally respected by the team without any resistance or animosity. There need to be many Day 0s for a perfect Day 1 with the new employee and the team, all aligned with the same purpose. For you, the business owner, the role here is to be a solution provider rather than being just a mediator between the new employee and the team.
Actions and Accountability
Common trouble faced by most businesses is when multiple teams start blaming each other for inefficiencies and things that go wrong. As a business owner, it is your responsibility to mitigate the issues and make sure the culture of your workplace is intact.
One of the biggest things that you can do is provide the utmost clarity to the conflicting teams. Clarity creates conviction and avoids confusion and conflict. So the problem arises when there’s confusion about clarity and expectations that leads to conflicts between teams and people use each other to play the blame game. Each team and every team member need to have absolute clarity about their responsibilities and ownership. Who is accountable for what and what the process is for the work to be smooth between teams. A well-documented process with 100% role clarity will bring in the accountability and transparency that is much needed for opposing or warring teams to function smoothly. The parameters of measurement need to be set as well to let the teams know how to measure performance, accountability, and responsibility. You, as an entrepreneur and a leader, need to have review meetings based on the above parameters. As a leader, your responsibility is to look at solutions rather than blame and encourage the teams to do so too. It is also important to check the vibe between the teams. Create a common framework of a culture that brings all teams to the same level and establish some common ground in terms of their reactions to certain situations that they commonly encounter. This activity of listing out and finding solutions together is also a great way to enhance bonding between teams and for them to understand the challenges faced by them respectively.
Reviews and Responsiveness
Another problem that business owners face is that even after setting up a solid review structure, accountability is still missing in their team members. They refuse to respond to the meetings and the protocols for the same and hence, productivity is hampered.
Firstly, the point of a review meeting is to understand what went wrong and what went right, so you have the insight to move forward in the right direction, towards solutions. So once a review meeting is done, the team already knows the things they need to work upon. If the team members are not making the changes required, then as a leader, you need to hold them accountable again. Identify the things where they are going wrong and why the response isn’t up to the mark. Then comes feedback. What could they have done differently? Is there a need to upgrade their attitude, skills, knowledge, learning, etc. Is there a need for business coaching programs that they need to take, etc.
Mentoring is also an essential part of this. Do they need hand-holding to establish their goals better? These things need to be explored in order to gain the desired results from the unresponsive team members who are willing to do better.
If you feel that even after these extensive measures, the response is still not there, then accept the fact that it’s not you, it’s them. The best decision here would be to let them go after letting them know that they are not responding to the team spirit. But follow the above steps first to help them and become a true catalyst.
Fears and Feedback
An interesting obstacle in business happens with the second line of leaders and their mentors.
The second line of leaders in a team are the ones who have adopted bigger responsibilities and they are always on top of things because these responsibilities give them significance. And sometimes when you as a business owner try to mentor them, it is misinterpreted as interference or micromanagement. That’s the first thing to clarify. You are not doubting their capabilities. They need to be secure with their contribution to the team but also be open to suggestions to do even better. Mentoring means supporting them in this new role so that their journey is much smoother. This context needs to be set.
On the other hand, check your mentoring outcomes. The second line of leaders have their own way of doing things and you need to make sure you’re available to them only when they need you. Be very clear in your communication that as a leader and a mentor, your intention is to make them grow by supporting them. The resistance, fears, and insecurities will automatically lift once they are convinced that the feedback that is being given is only to hone their skills even further. Once trust is established, there will be no room for conflict.
Read more: Top 5 Management Mistakes To Avoid As Leaders
Want more insights into the world of mentoring and management and other successful and scalable business strategies? Karan Hasija, one of India’s leading professional business coaches talks about all this and more in his business coaching modules, business coaching seminars, and workshops. He is one of the go-to people for entrepreneurs and has solid strategies for business owners to be successful catalysts in their business ventures.
