In working with many businesses over the years, particularly of recent times, one of the biggest complaints we hear is that of attracting and retaining team members.

As a side note, I say team members intentionally. Not staff members. Why? Because a team mindset will make a big difference to the culture of your business and the results that follow. To help you remember to use the term ‘team’ – tongue in cheek, staff do ‘staff-all’, teams build results. I digress..

Attracting and retaining team members - what’s the secret? This topic is often the subject of books, university courses, think tanks, and so on. There is a whole industry of consultants that advise on this matter. It’s a huge topic.

What I am going to give you is an iceberg view, a condensed version, the tip of the subject. Here are five key questions you can run over your business. I invite you to rate yourself on each of these questions out of ten and let me know how you score.

Do you have the right people?

Do you have the right people sitting in the right seats on the right bus and going in the right direction? In other words, do your people have the right mindset? Do they contribute positively to the team? Are they performing in roles that are most suited to them? One bad apple will ruin the whole basket!

Are they motivated?

People, including team members do not ‘buy’ what you do. They buy into why you do it. What is your ‘why’? What are your values? What mark or impact do you want to have on your industry and community? Do you understand what motivates your team members individually? If you haven’t asked them, I suggest you do. You’ll be surprised.

Do they know what to do?

Do you have an induction process and welcome your new team members? Are your role descriptions up to date and accurate? Does your organisational charts reflect your current business model and are updated? Is everyone clear on what they are and are not responsible for?

Do they know how to do it?

Do you develop and tweak your systems and processes? How well are your systems used? Do you use your documented systems and processes as internal training tools? Are you an effective delegator? Effective delegation is one of the most effective forms of on the job training.

Do you have the right environment to nurture success?

What is the physical environment of your business? Do you have fun? Do you build your success around the success of your team members?

There it is - a power review. In my observations and own experience, those that score highly in the 5 key questions above do very well in attracting and retaining quality team members. Very doable indeed.