Thank you to our partners for providing this post.
Small teams can be incredible when it comes to achieving goals. Typically, smaller teams are closer in terms of working space and are more willing to help each other out and keep each other motivated, too. But, the catch with smaller teams is that they often don’t get the same support in terms of training as bigger companies. So, what types of training benefit smaller teams? Check out our list below to see which team skills will help your small business flourish!
Communication
Effective communication is the key to a strong work ethic and a great team. It makes a massive difference to productivity, too. Essentially, it removes all of the fluff and allows people to get straight to the point clearly and the other person to understand the issue. Not only that, but it supports quick conflict resolution and better communication with customers, too.
DE&I
It is not enough to claim your company believes in and supports diversity, equality, and inclusion – you and your team should understand what that means and how to implement it impactfully. While management tends to benefit the most from this training, smaller teams can also use the knowledge and understand how it makes a difference.
Sales
Every team member should be able to sell your products even when it isn’t their job role. Not only does it foster a deeper understanding of the buyer’s mind, but it also helps them to increase their skill base. Ideally, all of your smaller teams can tackle a range of duties, and sales should be high on the list. A sales training LMS can handle the training in a straightforward way and is typically a cost-effective option.
Security
Most specifically, cybersecurity. With most transactions now made online and most businesses carrying out 90% of their workflow online, cybersecurity is essential. They don’t need to be fully qualified cyber security experts, but what they do need to know is how to protect data, why a VPN is important for remote work, and what security risks impact your business.
Small businesses often believe they aren’t worth targeting when the opposite is true: a lack of cybersecurity and cybersecurity know-how makes them an ideal target for criminals.
Goal Setting
Setting goals and ticking them off is one of the best ways to keep your team motivated and productive. However, if the goals are only ever set by you as the business owner, it is a skill that your team does have. Instead, encourage them to set their own goals within the job that they have.
Your sales team might want to see a 20% increase, and your content team might want to see higher engagement, so encourage them to look at goals that they can set and achieve. But always make it worthwhile – rewards at the end of achieving a goal make them something worth doing.
Computer
Basic IT skills can be good, but ideally, you want to have a team that is more than just a ‘bit okay’ with a computer. With everything being digital, the better their computer skills, the better it is for your company. It’s very possible you will want to do more online and work in the cloud, for example. In this case, you will want to look into having managed sd-wan services. You can work better as a team when you bring your work online and don’t have performance issues slowing you down.
For many small business owners, they started with an idea at the kitchen table – a side hustle, and grew! Looking after your team is a skill that you, as the owner, will need to cultivate, too.
Leave a Reply