Elite Business and Marketing began with a single broker and has grown into the dedicated team it has today. Despite the hurdles our business has faced the last few months, like many small businesses still are, we’ve maintained our communication between our departments and our clients. We have our own set of guidelines to ensure a quality team:

1. Trust your team. When going through the hiring process and the probationary period, do not hire someone just because you need a position filled. Since you will usually not find someone who fits every single requirement for the job, it is crucial to read between the lines of their resume and find past jobs and qualifications that point to them being a quick learner or hard worker. It is also imperative to look at a potential employee beyond the resume – what is their personal background? Finding people from diverse walks of life helps add new perspectives to a creative work environment. When a crisis occurs, you shouldn’t have to worry about micromanaging your team – you should be able to trust that they will figure out new ways to get work done and prioritize issues as they arise without your direct supervision. 
2. No “Yes Men/Women.” Keep the communication open and even as a leader, CEO, or team manager. Honest feedback is crucial when developing business plans and strategies, especially those that impact public image. You want your team members to be able to speak their minds. There are famous examples we still talk about now (such as this advertising fail) that probably could have been avoided with honest employees. Keeping mistakes like this in mind helps us stay humble and prioritize focus groups and feedback from workers. Although, an advertisement like this would never make it even past our brainstorming sessions let alone development.
3. Ask questions. No matter your position in a company, always ask questions if there is something you’re unsure of! No matter your position you should always continue to prioritize learning and ask questions to your employees. The people you hire have diverse skill sets and are knowledgeable in different areas, and can give you insight into different aspects of your business. Understanding how different departments work helps you understand how to better your own work. For example, Elite’s content marketers  work closely with the brokers to understand how businesses operate, which in turn allows them to write and create articles and posts that apply to business owners in a wide variety of industries. In return, the brokers also ask questions to the marketing department, which in turn helps them offer applicable advice and services to clients to help them increase the value of their business. Asking questions to your coworkers and having an open door communication policy fosters a symbiotic office relationship – when all departments work together the business works more efficiently.
4. Plan meetings accordingly. Ask yourself, what is the most time effective method to share important information, a lengthy meeting or can this be shared in an email instead? For example, at Elite, we have two weekly meetings between teams: one where we plan weekly goals and one where we discuss results and brainstorm for current projects. Having these planned, mandatory meetings is important to keep things organized. However, having one-on-one meetings or email threads can save time for the employees who do not need to be physically present to receive this information or who do not need to take part at all. Maximize your employee’s time without burning them out with long, unnecessary meetings that could be summarized in an email!
5. Build mutually beneficial relationships that last. Don’t shut the door on employees or clients who are ready to move on or change direction. Maintaining a cordial connection with past working relationships can benefit you down the line. For example, in the business brokering industry, there is disagreement over “co-brokering,” where one broker representations a seller, the other represents the buyer/investor. From our company’s experience, many selling brokers don’t like having reps on the other side of the table and are vehemently opposed to co-brokering, as they see these relationships as competition instead of an opportunity. However, Elite’s position on this is that we love co-brokering! It has provided us with a multitude of opportunities and new beneficial relationships with other brokers that we maintain to this day.

These five guidelines have been crucial to developing Elite’s success over the years. Every company has different methods to their success. What are yours? Let’s build a working relationship and share our tips with one another!