Now more than ever, it’s important that you are taking care of your team. After all, they are the people who help take care of you day after day. Some believe that you should prioritize customers, investors, and board members before your employees, but that isn’t necessarily the best method. If you prioritize your team, they will continue to prioritize you and keep your business running effectively.
Your Team is Everything
An unhappy team can cause issues aplenty for you and your business. Your team is the foundation of what you do. They take care of the customers, they make the product, they help think of new products, and they market the product. Take all that away, and you only have yourself left. The investors, board, and clients that you’ve been prioritizing will go away very quickly. Simply stated: your team makes everything happen. If you take them for granted, fail to recognize their talents, and don’t prioritize their health, they may be apt to underperform, frequently call in sick, or altogether quit.
Team Over Customers
There’s a reason they say the customer is always right, so of course, you want to prioritize them. They’re the people that provide the money that keeps your business going so you can pay your team and continue to grow your business. It can be easy to fall into the trap of overpromising your customers and placing the burden on staff members. This can lead to employee burnout and unmet expectations for the customers. This is a surefire way to sink your business. Make sure you are prioritizing your team first. This will allow them to perform at their best, put out their strongest work, and make customers happy.
Team Over Investors/Board Members
Your team is your source of creativity. Listen to them. Help foster that creativity and encourage it. Put value in their ideas. If you’re focusing too much on what the board or investors are telling you to do or the products they want you to make, your team may not buy in as well. Everyone’s opinion is important, and to an extent, your board and investors control some of your decisions but make sure everyone on the team is on board with the decisions being made. Their opinions about the business and products matter, too.
