How do you create a winning team?

Tips from a rugby great.

Rod McQueen (Ex Wallabies Coach) gave me the following words of advice some years ago. They seem very relevant today with the current challenge all recruitment agencies face of attracting and retaining the best talent for their businesses.

1. Ensure that you have the systems in place. Creating a winning team hinges on having the right processes and procedures in place to facilitate a smooth integration for the new team member. Consider a detailed induction pack, initial formal training both internally and externally on the "right" way to do the business will equip your new people with the skills and knowledge they need to be successful.

2. Allow the team to take ownership of nuances in culture. Allow your team members to integrate your new person into the culture of the team. Remember that the players are custodians of the game. The "we" not "me" culture. The existing players dictate the culture and set the rules for appropriate and inappropriate behaviour by the team members. Make sure your standards are high enough to reach the vision for the business and that all the team have the "passion to be the best".

3. Create a buddy system to teach what's important. Coaches and mentors are the way of the future for our industry. Buddy your new recruits with mentors (either internal or external) to help them be successful. Let them learn from the best, not the average. Success breeds success in rugby as in recruitment.

4. Never rest on your laurels. Always be creating a new and innovative way. Complacent rugby teams lose. Focus on the weak points, make them strong. Always be improving. For me the message is be continually stretching your team, acknowledge them for what they have done well and then stretch them once again toward excellence.

Winning teams are committed, consistent in their activities and behaviour and are passionate about their desire to be the best!

Are you part of a winning team?