The moment when you realize you’re ready to take your business to the next step is an exciting one. After growing and nurturing it alone, you’re finally ready to start building an enthusiastic and engaging team, people who will help you keep bossing the world of women-owned business!
But with that thrill comes added responsibility. It’s not easy to hire new team members, particularly when you’re creating a remote team who you’ll work with online rather than ever meeting face to face. It’s not a task to be taken lightly so it’s important to know what qualities to look for in your next team members.
Fortunately, we’re here to help with some handy pointers on how to identify your ideal team members. Of course, it’s not an exhaustive list and you might have personal requirements for your specialized team, but these are some things we think of as ‘must-have’ qualities no matter your set-up.
They’ve got exceptional communication skills.
We know, we can hear you saying ‘duh’ as we write this, but we really don’t think there’s a limit on how vital it is for modern team members to be good at communication. With a range of time zones and locations involved, getting back to messages in a prompt manner is a big part of what keeps an online business working smoothly.
Good communication skills aren’t only important because if they don’t get back to you, you can’t simply wave across the office; this is also about the quality of their communication. In a remote team, there are no non-verbal clues to pick up on, no chances for those quick chats over coffee that bring up nagging issues. Team members need to be willing to be open and honest in their communication, not to mention able to get to the point straight away with minimal hedging.
They’re entrepreneurial.
Come on, you’re an entrepreneur; it stands to reason that you’ll want other entrepreneurial thinkers on your team. What do we mean by entrepreneurial thinkers? Well, that’s people who can manage themselves, essentially. Sure, you and your online business manager are there to assign tasks and track progress, but as a remote employee, they’re in charge of themselves. It’s a good thing, too. Trust us, the last thing you need is to be constantly chasing things across continents!
A big part of this is self-discipline. To create an engaging team you need people who can maximize their productivity in every aspect of your business, so make sure you ask about how they plan to manage their time and stay on top of things. A red flag will be people who talk about how much they work – you also need to know they’re able to take breaks to stay focused.
Strong organizational skills are an absolute necessity as well. OK, they’re a necessity in pretty much any job but on a remote team, this needs to be taken to the next level. Always value people who can put together a detailed plan of action for a project or tasks they’re working on – your whole team will thank you later. It means that everyone’s clear on how their work fits in with others’ (and brings us back to communication again!).
They’re self-starters and problem solvers.
Let’s put it bluntly: there’s no hand-holding in a remote team. Sure, you’re a coach, but that’s for your clients! With your team members, you want to know that you can rely on them to get their own butt into gear because you’re not going to be there to do it for them. They need to be able to motivate themselves, discipline themselves and solve problems that come up.
Having team members constantly messaging with questions because they don’t understand a small part of your instructions will drive you nuts. You know as a business coach that sometimes people need to connect the dots themselves to succeed; implement that logic with your team.
How can you assess these skills? We’d recommend giving potential recruits a task to complete that assesses their critical thinking skills. While it might make the hiring process a little longer, we’re confident you’d rather find out how independent they are now rather than 6 months down the line when you’ve got a demanding client!
The passion is there.
We believe a strong, engaging team is a specialized team. The coaching industry is a passion-driven one so there’s no point in having lackluster team members who just want to tick boxes then sign off as quickly as possible. When you’re looking for candidates, find people who are genuinely interested in you and your woman-owned business, who respect what you’re doing and want to help you achieve things. It also helps when they are specialized in reaching success within your industry.
That passion and commitment are vital whether you’re building a team from scratch or looking for people to join an existing team. If you’re taking those first steps into creating a new team, hiring people who are invested in your mission will result in strong company culture and a thriving business. For those of you with existing employees, you want a great culture match with your current team, someone who fits in with everyone’s personalities and helps you all work towards a common goal.
While carefully-designed interview questions, test tasks, and application forms can help you pinpoint the other qualities you need, identifying passion and the culture fit is where your gut really comes into play. As a coach, you’ll have a good sense of people’s drivers – make sure you switch on those antennae when you’re interviewing!
It’s pretty fantastic that you’re not only running your own online business but that you also have a talent pool of the whole world to recruit from – your dream team is out there, just keep these qualities in mind when hunting them down.