Building productive teams for business development.

In today's business world, a key success factor is the ability to build productive teams, and this is one of the key global HR functions. In order to analyse this function in more detail and better understand how to implement it effectively, let's divide it into:

Recruitment;
Onboarding (adaptation);
Training;
Creating a talent pool;
Talent retention.

We will analyse each function separately below, but for now, let's understand the meaning of the term “productive team”.

First, a productive team is more than just a group of people working together. It is a synergy of individual efforts that leads to the achievement of joint results that exceed the sum of each member's contributions. It is when each team member understands the common goals and works to achieve them using their unique skills, talents, and knowledge.

Second, team productivity is not limited to the amount of work done or results achieved. It also includes the quality of work, an innovative approach to problem-solving, the ability to adapt to changes, and effective resolution of issues.

Third, an important aspect of a productive team is a healthy team atmosphere: mutual respect, openness to new ideas, constructive dialogue, and the ability to communicate effectively. In such an environment, each team member has the opportunity to develop their skills and abilities, which contributes not only to personal growth but also to the overall success of the company.

A productive team can significantly increase the efficiency, innovation, and competitiveness of a business. It can respond to market changes faster, solve problems more effectively, and achieve goals faster. Businesses with productive teams grow rapidly, generate additional profits, and as a result, employees receive good bonuses and salaries. However, building such a team requires effort and the right approach to recruitment, onboarding, training, skill development, and talent retention.

In the context of this understanding of a productive team, the HR department cannot do without special tools to solve these problems. One such tool is the Smart Way system. It helps to:

identify the key personal qualities of candidates during the selection process;
create an automated system for adaptation and training of personnel with automatic knowledge control;
create an automated system of personnel reserve and talent development;
monitor the level of employee burnout to retain them.

This creates the basis for the formation and development of truly productive teams that will drive the success of your business.

Now let's look at how to implement this.

High-quality recruitment using test methods.

Recruitment is a crucial step in building a productive team. High-quality selection of candidates who meet not only professional requirements but also corporate culture, have the right personal qualities, the right type of motivation, low burnout and other important parameters can significantly increase the efficiency of the team and contribute to the success of the entire business. This is where test methods play a key role, allowing you to objectively assess a candidate's potential.

In fact, conducting such an assessment is very easy with Smart Way because all the tools are fully automated. All you need to do is send the candidate an invitation to complete the test. The candidate takes the tests independently, and you will receive a detailed report with all the strengths and weaknesses, motivation, burnout, and other key parameters.

This page contains a form for submitting staff assessment tests. | LMS Smart Way

It is important to use test methods to form productive teams because:

It provides an objective assessment of candidates. Testing allows you to measure specific characteristics of candidates without subjective influence, providing a more accurate assessment.
Unlocking potential. With the help of tests, you can identify hidden abilities and potential of candidates that may not be obvious during a regular interview.
Predicting performance. Test results help to predict how a candidate will perform in real-life work environments.
Motivation. You will know exactly what factors motivate and demotivate candidates, and whether your corporate culture can influence their motivation.
Burnout. You will get rid of the risk of hiring a burned-out employee who can do more harm than good due to a negative emotional state. This doesn't mean that you have to refuse a suitable candidate, you just need to agree with the candidate about a few weeks of rest before starting work.
Honesty during testing. The system will show you how honestly the candidate answered the test questions and whether the results can be trusted.
Automation and detail. After spending 30 seconds, you will receive a 5-10 page report with a detailed description of the candidate. Such information cannot be obtained through a simple interview, especially since all the results are recorded, and you can review them in the future (in my experience, this is very useful).

You can learn about assessment tools on the page Testing candidates in recruitment.

Onboarding.

Once you've filled a vacancy, it's crucial to ensure that the new employee is effectively onboarded. The quality of the onboarding process will determine how quickly the employee becomes a full-fledged and productive team member, and whether they will stay with the team at all. Adaptation is not just a process of familiarization with the workplace, it is a comprehensive approach that includes familiarization with corporate culture, colleagues, work processes, regulations, rules, and motivation. A very common problem with the adaptation of new employees is when HR, a mentor, or a manager does not have enough time to familiarize the new employee with all the processes, rules, regulations, and knowledge base, which leads to a significant decrease in the new employee's productivity, loss of motivation, and even dismissal. In this case, the employee simply does not understand what to do, what results are expected from him or her, whom to contact, and as a result, we lose the employee we have been looking for so hard. All this leads not only to repeated recruitment, but also to a decrease in the productivity of the entire team as a whole and the loss of a large share of the company's profits.

This problem is solved by automating the adaptation system with the Smart Way LMS. It is very easy to implement. The LMS is fully configured, it does not need to be deployed on a server, programmed, or customized. In 30 seconds, you register your company and get a fully functional LMS. But you need to create a high-quality training course for the adaptation of new employees. In my experience, it is best to create micro-lessons for each topic separately. Such material is easier to learn, and it takes 5-15 minutes to complete each lesson, which allows you to take convenient breaks and study in short segments.

It is better to develop adaptation courses individually for each position. Smart Way has a system of granting rights, you can assign a training course separately for each position.

Granting access to view training courses | LMS Smart Way

So, you have an employee, you add them to the learning platform and they start the adaptation course, and the system independently monitors the process of passing the training material and assimilating knowledge.

The structure of the adaptation course varies from company to company, but in my opinion, it is effective to build it in sequence in such blocks:

Familiarization with the corporate culture. A new employee should understand the company's values and mission, as well as corporate rules. This will help them to better integrate into the team and adapt to the work environment.
Familiarization with the incentive system, regulations, and policies. It is important for an employee to understand how they can influence their income, career growth, and other aspects of motivation. This includes knowledge of the bonus system, performance appraisal, training, and development opportunities. Knowledge of internal policies, procedures and work standards is critical to ensuring quality and consistent performance. This includes understanding reporting procedures, communication, and health and safety in the workplace.
The training material is necessary for the performance of job duties. It is important that an employee learns all the information they need to do their job effectively. It is better to make the lessons small, linked to functions, so that the employee can refer to them as reference material in the future. Such training materials help new employees to better understand the specifics of their work, including technical knowledge, processes, and methodologies, as well as to solve simple tasks on their own and reduce their dependence on colleagues or managers.

After you have developed a training course, you will most likely have 20+ lessons on various topics, and you need the system to make sure that the employee has actually read and mastered the adaptation material. To do this, Smart Way has a test builder where you develop tests and attach them to lessons.

The Smart Way LMS has a “Knowledge Control” function that ensures that the employee passes the test with a result not lower than the one specified in this setting. You determine which result is acceptable to you. If an employee has passed a test on the material of the previous lesson and scored below the required score, the system will not allow them to move on to the next lesson. The employee will have to study the material again and take the test again. In this way, the system ensures that employees learn the material to the required level.

So, in this way, you build a fully automated system for the onboarding of new employees and move one step closer to building productive teams.

You can learn more about LMS Smart Way on the page LMS Smart Way - an automated solution for employee onboarding and training.

Staff training and development.

The next step in building productive teams is training. Training not only provides new knowledge, but for the “right employees” it is also an additional motivation, engagement, and development.

It is effective to build a personnel training system in several parallel planes:

Offline training by the company's trainers.
Online training using an automated LMS.
Specialized trainings from external experts.
Mentoring from more professional employees of the company.

Let's consider the advantages of each block and how they complement each other.

Offline training:

Personal interaction. Trainings with the company's trainers allow employees to interact personally, ask questions and get instant answers.
Hands-on training. Opportunity to perform practical tasks that mimic real-life work situations.
Team building. Promotes team building and improves internal corporate communication.

Online training (Corporate LMS):

Flexibility and accessibility. Employees can study at a time and place convenient for them.
A wide range of materials. Access to a large number of courses and materials on various topics.
Progress tracking. LMS allows you to monitor the progress of training and adapt programs to the needs of each employee.
Control of knowledge assimilation. LMS allows you to control the quality of knowledge acquisition through testing.
Automation and reliability. The company does not bear any risks in case of trainer's dismissal, because the trainer is an LMS that guides the employee through all training materials consistently and controls this process.

Specialized trainings from external experts:

A fresh perspective and new ideas. External experts can bring insights and expertise that may not be available within the company.
Specialized knowledge. Deep dive into specific, specialized topics that may not be within the competence of internal trainers.

Mentoring:

Individualized approach. A mentor can provide personalized support and mentoring, focusing on the mentee's specific needs and goals.
Transfer of experience. Mentors share their experience and knowledge, which contributes to the rapid professional development of mentees.
Support for career development. Mentoring helps to develop career skills and open up new opportunities for growth.

The combination of these approaches to training and development allows us to create a comprehensive and effective system that meets the different needs and learning styles of employees. The use of different learning formats not only increases the efficiency of the educational process, but also promotes motivation, engagement and comprehensive development of staff, and as a result, you get a team of trained and motivated employees capable of working with high productivity, developing the company and generating the desired profits.

So, we've created our productive team, and now we need to motivate, develop, and retain employees. Let's look at the next step - creating a talent pool to retain and develop talent.

Creating a talent pool.

To begin with, let's define a talent pool as a systematic approach to identifying and developing employees who have the potential to take up key positions in the company in the future. This is not just a list of promising candidates, but a strategy aimed at training and planning the career development of employees in order to provide the company with human resources.

The main goals of creating a talent pool:

Personnel potential. Being ready to fill key positions in the event of a vacancy ensures the continuity of business processes and the stability of the company's operations.
Motivation and retention of employees. Awareness of career growth and development opportunities within the company helps to attract and motivate staff, increase productivity and retain the best people.
Talent development. Additional systematic training and skill development of employees from the talent pool improves not only their professional level but also the overall level of professional competencies in the company.

Creating an effective talent pool requires a systematic approach on an ongoing basis.

The main stages of creating a talent pool system:

Defining selection criteria: Establishing clear criteria for inclusion in the talent pool is key. The criteria should be written down and communicated to the staff. As a rule, a regulation on the talent pool is formed, which describes in detail the conditions for admission to the talent pool and the evaluation system.
- оPersonally, when creating a talent pool system, I am guided by the following selection criteria: personal qualities, motivation and burnout (all these criteria are objective and are assessed using Smart Way test methods),
- professional knowledge and learning ability (assessed by the results of tests of completed training courses in the Smart Way LMS),
- KPIs,
- recommendations of the direct supervisor and feedback from team members.
Personnel assessment and selection: Evaluation should be carried out systematically, in the format of annual or seasonal staff appraisal. Each employee should clearly understand the consequences and opportunities of this assessment and be motivated to achieve the required results. This has a good effect on the productivity of the entire team, especially if the evaluation is tied to the system of economic motivation and the formation of a personnel reserve. It is important to carry out the evaluation according to the criteria defined in point 1.
Develop automated development training programs: For the further development of candidates from the talent pool, it is important to have an automated learning system. One of the key problems I have encountered in my practice when creating a talent pool is the lack of an LMS. There were elements of the “human factor” when coaches, managers, mentors, due to their employment, did not devote enough time to the development and training of candidates from the talent pool, which led to low efficiency and almost simple formal existence of this pool. With the transition to an automated training system, the effectiveness of the talent pool has increased significantly, and the company has begun to receive real potential of trained employees capable of holding higher positions.
Monitoring and evaluation of progress: Regularly tracking the development and achievements of talent pool employees and adjusting their development plans to meet company needs and individual progress is essential. Sometimes it happens that a talent pool member fails to perform and needs assistance or removal from the talent pool. Sometimes, on the contrary, a reserve moves much faster and needs to be promoted in order not to lose him. For this purpose, I use consolidated test results, which Smart Way exports to an Excel report and which can then be conveniently analysed to compare performance over time or to compare candidates’ results with one another. This report clearly shows the leaders and laggards, and which topics are easier and which are more difficult for whom. Without detailed monitoring, talent pool management becomes ineffective, so don't forget to analyse the results on an ongoing basis.
Provide feedback and support: Keep in touch with your reservists on an ongoing basis. Give detailed feedback on the results of the assessment, explain their weaknesses, and don't be afraid to give development recommendations.

Communicating with HR specialists of many companies, I see that for some people the talent pool is something complicated, mythical, and it is not very clear how to implement it. From my experience, I can say that it can be difficult to create an effective talent pool system, because this process requires a systematic approach and a lot of attention. However, if you approach it systematically and planned using the right tools, its creation becomes much easier and more efficient. The Smart Way blog has a good article "Practical tools for creating a talent pool" by Inna Nikulina, Head of Training at Miraton, where she shares her experience of creating a talent pool, which is worth reading.

Talent retention.

Talent retention is one of the key steps in building productive teams. Building productive teams requires significant resources, and if you don't have a retention system in place, the effectiveness of your team-building efforts can be significantly reduced. The loss of talented employees not only affects productivity, but also leads to additional costs for recruiting and training new employees.

Talent retention strategies:

An effective system of economic incentives: Competitive salaries, bonuses, health insurance and other benefits are important factors in employee retention. Constantly analyse the labour market and revise salary levels in a timely manner, don't wait for employees to ask for a raise or resign. Create additional short-term incentive programs in the form of contests, which will help level salaries during periods of decline and increase staff engagement.
Opportunities for career growth: Creating a clear career path and providing opportunities for professional growth and training work very well to retain and motivate talent.
Work environment and corporate culture: A healthy, positive workplace environment and a culture that fosters diversity, innovation, and mutual support have a very positive impact on employee retention and productivity. It is important to understand that productivity directly depends on the intensity of employees' work. However, intensive work contributes to the rapid burnout of employees, which leads to dissatisfaction, conflicts, and dismissals. It is very important to constantly monitor the level of employee burnout. To do this, the Smart Way assessment system has a specialized test to assess the level of burnout. It is important to conduct it once every six months systematically for all employees of the company, or individually if you notice unusual behaviour of an employee (fatigue, dissatisfaction). When you detect an above-average level of burnout, start taking measures to reduce this level, otherwise you risk not only losing the employee, but also getting a number of additional problems that burned-out and dissatisfied employees usually create, which will have a bad impact on the productivity of the entire team.
Feedback and recognition: Regular feedback, recognition of achievements, and consideration of employees' opinions increases their job satisfaction. Do not neglect this tool, it is very effective.
Work-life balance: Flexible work schedules, the ability to work remotely, and adequate vacation time help maintain balance and reduce stress, reduce burnout, and contribute to greater employee satisfaction.

Conclusions.

By applying the above approaches in combination, you will not only increase the productivity and efficiency of your teams, but also ensure their sustainable growth and development. This, in turn, will increase your company's competitiveness in the market, increase sales, improve the quality of services and products, and ensure sustainable business development. This, in turn, will lead to stable jobs, good salaries, and professional growth for your employees.

Using the Smart Way system in this context is not just a tool, but a strategic investment in the future of your company, which will allow you to take a systematic approach to recruiting, developing staff, and managing talent.

So, if you have read this far, you already know how to build productive teams that will effectively develop your company. Now just take action!