By Constantinos Massonos, Contributor
One of the toughest challenges for professional athletes is transitioning to a second career after sports. Recognizing this difficulty, sports stakeholders encourage athletes to prepare for life after their athletic careers, starting as early as their first professional competition.
Athletes can tap into the same qualities that enabled them to succeed in sports when deciding between two paths: getting employed or becoming an entrepreneur. This decision should be made after reflecting on personal goals, character, education, and fame.
In entrepreneurship, athletes benefit from their stardom, which can be a powerful launchpad for their business ventures. However, fame alone won’t ensure success. Running a business requires vast knowledge, skills, and capabilities, making it nearly impossible to succeed without the right support. Surrounding yourself with the right people and skill set is crucial.
Building an entrepreneurial team may seem straightforward, but it involves more than just gathering a group of like-minded individuals. Extensive academic research on entrepreneurial teams emphasizes the need for diversity in skills, strengths, and innovation. You must be willing to trust your team to push your business forward.
Here are a few tips to help you get you started on building your ideal entrepreneurial team:
- Realizing the areas in which you are personally lacking in skills, will help you identify the roles you must fill in order to get the right people for your team. You should remember that you are not looking for individuals like yourself, as you are already part of your team.
- Recruiting the perfect candidates for your team, is not going to be an easy job but you can use your personal or professional network to help you identify prospective targets. If you get an introduction you feel can work, you can arrange to meet them over a coffee or lunch and check whether you have any chemistry with them.
- You have to keep your team small. Your team will be spending a lot of time together so it is important to have the cohesion that will allow them to work together effectively and communicate and share ideas easily.
- Your team members shouldn’t need constant direction and supervision. They should be able to develop their own methods, utilize available resources and manage their time in order to complete any given assignment.
- You need to be constantly looking for new talent who can bring that extra kick to your team and help your business stay on top of its competitors in terms of innovation.
- Your team should share your vision and goals. Research shows that monetary benefits are not the main motivation factor for your team to perform at the top of its game. Have them invested in a greater plan, your plan, and reap the benefits of their performance.
As the head of your entrepreneurial team, you will have to create and sustain the right climate between team members and be able to correct any team dysfunctions.
For more help on building the right entrepreneurial team for launching your business, send us an email at [email protected]