Dream Team

Hello, Chrystal Clifton here, of Chrystalize Consulting, the consulting firm that allows you to focus on one crystal clear path in your business to grow a Triple Bottom Line of impact, income, and influence. And, I'm also the founder of the Legacy Brand Academy, Legacy Business Solutions and the High Impact Entrepreneur Tribe. These are all near and dear to my heart and I want to let you know that I could not do any of these things without a key ingredient, a dream team. 

See, I have been in business for over 20 years. My family has been in business- my father, my grandmother- and one thing they always seemed to complain about was employees. And, I realized, as I started running my own business, there is a big difference between a few things that we're going to break down. 

There's a huge difference between an employee or a dream team. 

An employee thinks, “I'm coming to work to get my job done and leave” and they're only engaged 40% of the time. A dream team, your improved productivity goes up to 64 to 74% and they're there for the company's vision and values, not because of the check, they actually want to make an impact.

Ready to Build a Dream Team?

So, how do you change from having just employees or assistants to creating a dream team? Well, this is what we're going to dive into because a dream team is what will allow you, as an entrepreneur... as a visionary leader... to see your business scale in a sustainable way. And, it allows you to keep your sanity because you are limited on one incredible value resource that you will never get more of, it doesn't matter how hard you work, it's time. It doesn't matter how much coffee you drink, it doesn't matter how many meetings you take, you still have the same amount of time as everybody out there. 

So, if you are ready to scale your business in a magnificent way and in a way that creates the impact you dream and desire, then we are going to talk about what you need to do to scale without fail. Because scaling- just you and your income, your sales and your growth is one thing, but maintaining it is another. That's the difference between an employee or a team.

Now, when we walk through this, the reason this was something I wanted to talk about is because I've had lessons. I've had to learn being a leader, where sometimes I was so visionary and excited, that I forgot to make sure these key elements were in place and you must have these key elements in place. Otherwise, you may be a train that has left the station without its passengers. 

Don’t be a Tasmanian Devil

My team, when I was a very youthful leader, would tell me, “You come in like the Tasmanian devil!”  We’d get so excited, we’d get pumped up and then, we don't know what to do. Does that sound like you? Or, we’d spend hours on meetings and nothing gets done and I get frustrated. I feel like, “I'm investing in this and you and this project, why is it getting done?” I've been there too. I've had to do some real deep work on how to become a leader and how to create a team!  Then you can become impactful because when you have a team that's united, that is a dream team. 

When you learn how to be not just a good boss, or manager, but a visionary leader, it's the difference of you just spending money on your business or you creating an impact. When we work on building a Triple Bottom Line, impact is what my clients want. They want to make an impact that has purpose and meaning, not just money. You can do it at the same time. 

So, your team must know these things. They must have these things in place. Don't end up like the train that left his passengers on the deck holding their ticket with their luggage wondering, “What just happened?” It's time for you to get your team together and in a real way. 

Here are the seven keys to building a dream team. 

#1 You must communicate the vision. See, you can't expect just because you have the vision in your head and you've created this dream to come alive, that they suddenly know it too. You must talk about the vision, communicate the why's and the values of your company. Remind your team why you are doing this, why they want to work with you. Make it about the vision, not just about them. Give them a reason to come to the office besides a paycheck. 

#2 Culture. I am so big on brand culture. Businesses have culture. I call it the DNA of who you are becoming. It's like you have a baby.  You know when you first have a child, if you're a parent, people say, “Oh, having a kid is wonderful and it's great,” and then you have it and you go, “Oh my goodness, this disrupts me. I don't even know what I'm doing!” You lose sleep, you lose money, you have stress. I mean you just get overwhelmed. So, what happens when you suddenly gift the world your idea, and it becomes a baby out there? Well, you need to create culture. You need to create strength around this idea so that it is more than just a business. What's your company's reputation? Is it a fun place to work? Is it a scary place to work where you're like Darth Vader coming in? Are people intimidated to work for you? You need to be aware of your culture. You need to know your company culture and have your finger on the pulse. 

#3 Clarity. Not only why are they working for you, but clearly pointing them to the goals. Having clear vision, not only about the core basics of the company, but, “Hey guys, this is where we're going to go” and clarity on “here's the steps we're going to take to get there.” Give clarity. 

#4 Coordinate. Coordinate your team because if you just start hiring people, cause you know there's a lot of work, but you don't take the time to know who is good and has the right strengths for the right job. What happens is you could be hiring somebody that's not suited for the job because they're just a good... good at working...doesn't mean that they're good at doing the one thing you need. Take the time to do an assessment. There are so many out there. Just minimize the frustration of feeling like you're pounding a square peg into a round hole. You must know people's strengths. You must take the time to get to know the team before you coordinate the projects with them. Okay?

#5 Consistency. Once you have everybody's role in place, once you've had the clarity of the vision and then you must have consistency, you must be able to create the structure of measuring your metrics. You must say, okay, so if you're in charge of this part of our business, I need you to consistently give me a report on what are, what are you working on? Where are you stuck? 

#6 Communication. You must communicate with your team. You must have  weekly check-ins or monthly planning or something. Even if you need to coordinate time zones. In the entrepreneurial world right now, it's a game of figuring out time zones. I know my team is all across the world, but guess what? We know our vision. We know the culture. We have clarity, we have our structure. We know when we're communicating and I make sure we're all coordinated now. Then next thing is a little tougher for some leaders and some entrepreneurs. 

#7 Constructive feedback. This is a two way street. It means that you must be willing to give constructive, clear feedback to your team, but you need to do it in a way where you just don't leave a gaping wound. Be clear, “Hey, I want to talk to you because this is the goal. Remember how we created the steps in the structure and we're communicating check-ins? What's going on with you? Cause I'm not seeing something going on or have, have you felt like you are not able, you're not being supported or what? What do I need to do to help you reach your goals?” See the difference between being a manager or a leader is a manager tells them what to do. A leader comes in and says, “Let's do this together. What do you need?” So, when you need something done and it's not getting done, be constructive. Get the feedback. Also, what you need to do is let it come to you. If you're running around like the Tasmanian devil, your team has to be able to tell you “there's some things we don't understand” or “that was too much for me.” Be willing to hear it with the heart, serve them so that they can make the impact they need to make. 

#8. Celebrate. I even struggled to celebrate. Have fun! Life is filled with moments. Have fun! 

Hire Clydesdales

The final thing is, think about this one Clydesdale horse. The big beautiful horse that are in Budweiser commercials. One pulls 8,000 pounds. Two, when harnessed together, does not pull just 16,000, it pulls 24,000 pounds. Now, if you take those two Clydesdale horses and you work with them and train them together, they pull 32,000 pounds. That is four X. If that's not a lesson in teamwork, I don't know what is!

I want to leave you on this note:  Your dream team is waiting for you. 

Once you have the clarity of your business, your vision, and you know how to create and coordinate all of that together, they will be there to 4X your company with you! But, make sure you don't hire a donkey and try to put it next to a Clydesdale because a Clydesdale won't pull. Make sure you hire the Clydesdales and you will do that through these steps. 

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