How to make SME teams successful

Growth, whether through increased sales, serving more complex clients, or new products and services, usually leads to an increase in the number of employees. The faster the SME (small to medium-sized enterprise) grows, the more quickly new people need to be brought in and hit the ground running.  

More employees bring challenges in communication, coordination, and cooperation. If SME leaders do not pay attention to building teams, issues can take root. A lack of communication can mean balls get dropped, interpersonal dynamics can create frustration, and innovation is ultimately stifled. These potential pitfalls result in underperformance of the individual, the team, and the business.  

The characteristics of a high-performance workplace

High-performing teams need to have trust, a shared common goal, role clarity, effective communication, knowledge of individual and collective strengths, and have ways of managing conflict.  

Teams do not exist in a vacuum. Culture has a part to play in supporting teamwork and collaboration.

Creating a shared sense of purpose 

A shared sense of purpose is the glue that binds a team together. Communicating the vision and strategy of a business clearly and compellingly will help your team to be more engaged.  

We are more likely to achieve goals we have set for ourselves or had a part in setting. Work with your team to translate the strategy into a set of goals that they can buy into and own.  

But it is not just about having shared goals. Encouraging people to work together to solve problems fosters teamwork and innovation. 

Fostering a culture of teamwork

It is useful to think about both the enablers and barriers to effective teamwork. We can view this in terms of someone’s ‘willingness’ or ‘ability’ to work as part of a team.  

A ‘knowledge is power’ attitude, high independence, or underperformance that is not addressed, may all impact someone’s willingness to work as part of a team. If high performers see that underperformance is tolerated in a team, they are less inclined to want to be part of it. To develop high-performing teams, leaders need to address underperformance promptly. 

Organisational barriers can impact people’s ability to work as a team. This includes a culture that rewards individual performance over teamwork and collaboration, or an organisational structure that isolates people or departments from each other. A lack of role clarity in an organisation or not knowing the skills new people are bringing into the organisation means some strengths get overused whilst others get under used.  

To help create a culture of teamwork, provide opportunities for people to connect and share knowledge. Building on these foundations, look at the opportunities to solve problems and innovate together.  

Review how to reward teamwork as well as individual performance. Consider what might be some of the barriers that impact effective teamwork in your organisation. As this process is all about collaboration, sense-check with others what employees see as the enablers and barriers. 

Managing conflict

Healthy conflict leads to better problem solving, decision making and innovation as it surfaces different perspectives. It builds trust as we can disagree without it becoming personal. It also builds accountability. People are more likely to be accountable for decisions that are made when they have had the opportunity to work through any disagreement.  

Psychological safety is crucial in high-performance teams. This is about how ‘safe’ employees feel speaking up, offering different perspectives, and admitting mistakes. If an employee thinks that by speaking up, they will be made to feel silly – they will keep quiet. This means creativity is stifled, and the team does not learn from their mistakes.  

To manage conflict effectively, encourage people to share their perspectives. Hear everyone out before opening discussions, and encourage junior members of the team to speak first.

Focus on process, not personality. It can be useful to understand each other’s conflict styles – some people get louder, others quieter.

Taking this forward 

For SMEs, clear communication of strategy, joint goal setting, and fostering a culture of teamwork and trust, are all critical to building high-performance teams.  

In the Help to Grow: Management Course , as well as learning about strategy, goal setting, culture and bringing teams with you, business leaders get to experience effective teamwork and collaboration.  

Through the 12-week course, you will come together with your cohort to share ideas and solve problems and innovate together. Through the regular small group peer-to-peer sessions you will build trust, challenge and support each other, taking that learning back into your organisations to build your teams. 

Find out more about the Help to Grow: Management Course here.

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