Productive Team Checklist

What capabilities and natural energies do each of your team need to have to be the best they can be?

Here are some examples of attributes that your staff should have in order to be most effective for your company:

Telephone Sales or New Business Development:

• Drives results through talking to people
• Big picture thinking/has many ideas
• Likes to learn their pitch/proposition for quick rewards
• Innovative
• Learns best being hands on
• Influencing and negotiation skills
• Quick minded and naturally speaks fast
• Generally extrovert, often starts things but may struggle to finish
• Some level of freedom
• Motivated by money and esteem/likes to be recognised

Sales Account Manager/Field Sales:

• Ability to build long term relationships
• Enjoys a longer sales process
• Likes to understand, and asks questions to gather all the details to accurately provide a solution/or have an idea that would help
• Time management capability
• Results focused
• Often needs direction or a plan to follow
• Some can make good team managers being supportive and team orientated
• Able to be both extrovert and introvert
• Doesn’t like to be restricted, freedom is important
• Will build a network around them
• Money and esteem motivated and likes the self-actualisation to develop

Marketing:

• Creative/innovative
• Good communication skills – verbal and written
• Likes to have process or a plan to follow
• Often has the ability to write
• Good time management
• Analytical/Research capability
• Likes to have many projects on the go, working simultaneously
• Likes to get results through collaboration, with people and processes
• Some level of freedom to come up with ideas and plans to move forward
• Reliable and committed to the job in hand – belonging/esteem motivated, likes to be included

Finance & Accountancy:

• Analytical to ensure everything is in order and concise
• Likes to get results via processes or systems
• Excellent time management and organisational skills
• Numerical, with strong communication skills
• Text book learner, likes to know
• Generally more introvert, likes to be more back office rather than on the front line
• Excellent attention to detail – finishers!
• Likes to find and fix a problem, or re-engineer finding a better way
• Likes a secure/safe environment to work in
• Loves structure
• Committed and reliable – job satisfaction, physiological and security motivated

Administrators:

• Good written and oral communication skills
• Strong time management, very organised at work and personally
• Great finishers – “list” people
• Generally need some guidance at the start of the day/project, then can be left to their own devices
• Likes to have ownership and feel appreciated
• Likes to work part of a team
• Caring nature with a good ear to the ground
• Likes detail and accuracy
• Resourcefulness, they learn their craft and will write it down or save the information, just in case they need it again
• Don’t like risk or change generally
• Motivated by basic and physical needs with measurement, action and to feel included/ belonging

Warehouse/Unskilled:

• Organised with good time management
• Not averse to new technologies to enforce a better/quicker way of working
• Physical/ fit capability – practically minded
• Due diligence – respects others and products
• Likes to be hands-on
• Freedom, but likes a level of structure i.e. start and finishing times, however happy to flex when appreciated
• Likes to banter and chat – having company is vital
• Motivated by doing a good job and feeling appreciated
• Committed and loyal when respected
• Trustworthy
• Likes to know what’s going on around them
• Motivated by basic and physical needs with measurement and action

Advisors & Consultants/Professionals:

• Good communication and interpersonal skills
• Strong listening and empathy
• Creative and innovative, likes to help others
• Visual learner generally but will read the detail when required
• Analytical, likes to know
• Likes to fix and wants to understand exactly what’s expected from them
• Problem-solving and strategic planning skills, being blue sky thinkers
• Understands their market/profession to be able to provide the best guidance
• Confidence in own ability, they believe in themselves
• Risk takers when they know enough
• Freedom to explore
• Can be relied upon to make things happen
• Operational excellence – achieving full potential/self-actualisation