The Three-Step Process for Building a Stronger Team

A common problem I hear from entrepreneurs is that employees do not always follow through on assignments the way the owner expects. A task gets assigned, the instructions seem clear, and when the work does not get done, the first assumption may be that the wrong person was hired. I believe the problem often begins with leadership instead. Leading a team is a skill, and like any other skill, it can be learned and developed.

I have spent more than 25 years working with creative and business teams, including more than eight years as the marketing director of a company that grew from fewer than 20 employees to more than 80 across four offices. One lesson I learned during that time is that assigning work is often the easy part. The challenge is creating an environment where people understand the mission, take ownership of their responsibilities, and want to contribute to the result.

One of the most important distinctions in leadership is the difference between compliance and cooperation. Compliance depends on consequences. An employee does something because failing to do it could lead to punishment, loss of pay, discipline, or termination. This approach can produce results, but those results may only last as long as the threat remains.

Cooperation works in a different way. Instead of forcing someone to complete a task, the goal is to help that person understand why the work matters. Employees need to see the larger vision, understand how their role contributes to it, and recognize what they gain by helping accomplish the goal. This takes more time and effort from the leader, but it can create commitment that goes beyond doing the minimum required.

Leadership also requires setting the example. If I expect an employee to arrive at 9 a.m., I cannot expect that standard to carry much weight if I arrive late each day. People may not always follow what a leader tells them, but they pay attention to what that leader does. Expectations become more credible when the person setting them follows the same standards.

At the same time, leaders need to understand the difference between inspiring employees and intimidating them. A business owner may work long hours, arrive before everyone else, and carry a workload that comes from years of experience. Showing employees how much the owner can accomplish may seem like inspiration, but it can have the opposite effect. Someone who looks at that example and believes they could never reach that level may stop trying before they begin.

A better approach is to meet people where they are. Work beside them. Give them goals they can reach. Once they reach those goals, encourage them to take the next step. Leadership should give people a path forward instead of making them feel that they must immediately perform at the same level as someone with years of experience.

There is also a practical process for transferring work to employees. Standard operating procedures can help turn knowledge that exists in one person’s head into a process another person can follow. I use a three-step approach. First, show the person how to complete the task and have them document each step. Second, have them perform the task while you watch and correct gaps in the process. Experience can cause leaders to skip steps that feel obvious to them but are not obvious to someone learning the job.

The third step is to have that employee teach the process to someone else. Teaching exposes areas they may not understand and helps confirm whether they can perform the work without direct supervision. The leader can then move into a quality-control role instead of continuing to perform every task personally. Over time, the person who was trained can train others, allowing the process to continue without depending on one person.

The main lesson is that leadership is not about giving orders and expecting people to follow them. Cooperation is stronger than compliance, and people are more likely to take ownership when they understand the goal and see how their work contributes to it. Leaders also need to practice the standards they expect, inspire rather than intimidate, and give employees a process for developing their skills. Almost any task that is performed on a consistent basis can be handed to someone else when the leader takes the time to teach it, sets expectations the person can reach, and develops enough trust to let that person take responsibility.