I’m a firm believer in being customer-centric and delivering great products that truly delight. But behind every winning product is a winning team that builds and delivers it. And building a winning team needs just as much attention and engagement as the product itself.

Here are a few things to consider when building that winning team:

• Listen & Understand
• Engage
• Challenge
• Welcome Challenge
• It’s all about “Us”

Listen & Understand

There’s an old saying that “everyone wants to be heard”, but it goes deeper than just being heard. What they really mean is that they want their perspective to be understood and considered, not just “acknowledged”. And in the end, listening to and understanding each team member’s perspective is how you take advantage of the diversity of the team. By listening and truly understanding each of the individual perspectives, you get to see and understand the big picture and enable solutions that far exceed any individual input (even your own!).

Engage

A high performing team thrives on continuous engagement. Don’t wait for people to come to you with ideas and suggestions. Instead, constantly engage the team by immersing them in thinking about the day to day life of the customer, so they can gain insight to unmet needs and participate in ongoing ideation. Again, take advantage of the team’s diversity to come up with novel and compelling solutions.

Challenge

Listening and engaging with the team doesn’t imply passively aggregating the input and hoping for some sort of consensus. A winning team will challenge each other and welcome open debates, because in the end, it’s collaborating and coming out with the next great product or feature that matters, not who’s opinion or perspective may have initiated it.

Welcome Challenge

It’s especially important that the leader of a winning team set the example for welcoming challenge. As with any leadership position, the opinion and perspective of the leader carries more weight in the team’s decision-making process. Establishing an environment that allows for open debate with the leader sets the stage for an open environment for healthy debates amongst all team members.

It’s All About “Us”

To a winning team, the only “them” is the competition, not anyone within the company or organization. It’s all about “us”, bringing out the power of teamwork to overcome any obstacles, with a relentless focus on delivering great products that delight the customer. And that’s what drives business success!

In Summary

A single good idea can generate a winning product and succeed in the market – a great start. But why settle for a great start when you can have continuous success? Pay attention to developing and nurturing a winning team, and they will deliver an ongoing stream of great products. And that’s how you drive sustained business success!

Here’s to your success

• Pete

Pete Rudak
President & CEO
Rudak Engineering