Ten Mistakes in Team Building

Similarly, your marketing director, business development manager, sales assistant, call it what you will, should have a line in his or her job description: Will not be asked to perform service duties except in an emergency.

Don't ask one to do the other's duties. The team collapses and you just have a bunch of unhappy people doing stuff and arguing about it. Don't ask the shortstop to be a pitcher, and don't send your catcher to first base.

6. Disproportionate Pay

Should my marketing/sales assistant and service assistants be paid equally? Yes and no.

First, I want you as an advisor to imagine you have two arms. Your business development manager brings in business to you. Some of the business is from clients. Some is from prospects.

Your service manager helps you keep what you've got. He or she creates selling time. Happy, well-serviced clients come back for more.

In this analogy, which would you rather have: your left arm or your right arm?

My answer would be, "I'm not willing to give up either."

So which is more valuable, left or right?

Start with the same base salary, and then add to it or take away from it, based upon qualifications and length of service.

7. Keeping the "Right Person" Too Long

One of the most destructive things to a small team is the wrong person on it. The "wrong person" can often be disguised by many positive personal characteristics. It's easy to root out the sour, dishonest, non-performing team member, but the "right person" is tough.

You could have, for instance, someone as your business development manager who has a great personality, good work ethic, blends well with the team, everyone likes him or her, but the harsh reality is, he or she does not get the results required of the position. You keep working with that person, coaching them, helping them, but it doesn't improve. Most likely this person is responsible for business development.

The fact is: Some people do not have the ability to bring the horse to water, much less make it drink. To leave that person in that job can bring down your team.

In a larger company, that good decent person you hired would be moved to another job. But the cold reality is: You are not a larger company. You are a small team. And if your business development manager, or service manager, or junior advisor, can't get the job done, no matter how sterling their other characteristics, they have to go. And they have to go fast.

The rule: When you start having second thoughts, make the second thoughts first thoughts and pull the plug.

8. No Decision-Making Process

If there is a single factor responsible for the destruction of most teams it is the absence of a decision-making process. This is especially apparent in a 50-50 partnership.

Bob says yes. Jane says no. And it sticks there. Irritation turns into anger. One person starts looking around. Sooner or later, it blows up.

The solution: An agreed-upon method to make a decision.

In the case of a 50-50 partnership, you could have a simple rule as follows:

The partners will come to an agreement on significant issues in a reasonable period of time. Failing that, they will call in an agreed-upon third party who will cast a deciding vote. That ends the discussion. And the partners get back to work.

In a larger partnership where the senior partner may hold a majority of the shares, the rule is simple.

The partners will discuss any changes in policy, major expenses, personnel, and ideally come to a meeting of the minds in a relatively short period of time. Failing that, the senior partner will make the decision and end the discussion.

Don't let disagreements blow up an otherwise great relationship. Work out a method to end disagreement and move on.

9. Not Putting All the Eggs in One Basket

When two or three advisors come together, each is naturally cautious, and wants to protect what he brings to the table. That's fine. But it's only fine for a limited period of time. Once you have decided that you are a real partnership, all clients should be assigned a single partnership number.

The model of "ours, yours, and mine" is not a model that long survives. The reason is very simple. "Ours" never gets the attention of mine and yours. "Our clients" get neglected for the simple reason that it's always easier for you to make more money by talking to your clients than our clients. There is no economic reason for this model to survive, and very rarely does it last more than a year or two. While you would not put all of your investment eggs in one basket, all clients assigned to one number is the foundation for a partnership of long duration.

10. No Team Vision

A team is a group of people united by a common vision or mission. With no common vision or mission, the team becomes not a team, but just a group of people doing stuff. It never develops the team dynamic. It is the responsibility of the advisor or partners to develop a mission statement. Further, it is essential that all current and future team members learn the mission statement and be able to repeat it from memory.

I read an interesting article a while back on mission statements. The author recommended that a mission statement not be longer than what can be comfortably recited while standing on one foot.

The mission of Bill Good Marketing is: "Create marketing and administrative systems that enable our clients to have the time and money to pursue their other goals in life."

I can say that while standing on one foot. Can you do the same with your mission statement?