How to Hire and Build a Successful Team for Your Company in Nigeria

“Where do you see yourself in five years?”

“How much salary are you looking at if we hire you?”

These questions are regular job interview questions but the relevance of the answers and real functions are not usually fully understood by both the hirer and the hired. The dynamics of hiring and building a team for your company in Nigeria is a bit different from what operates generally.

To help new and existing businesses build successful teams in Nigeria, we have put together some ideas that have worked in the Nigerian business terrain, especially for small and medium companies.

How to Hire and Build a Successful Team for Your Company in Nigeria

When hiring, do the following:

1. Address Specific Needs

Whether your business is just starting out or has been in existence, you shouldn’t hire just because you envisage a particular need. You should hire to fill gaps. Know exactly what the person you are hiring will be doing for your organisation.

For example, you have heard that companies now hire social media managers. This does not mean automatically that you need a social media manager. First of all, assess the team you have and your company’s needs. It may be that your company will do better if you outsource social media management. Or there may be someone on the team already who can handle that particular need and you just need a little reshuffling of tasks.

2. Hire To Fit Company Culture

Your company has a personality. There are your goals, objectives and vision. There is how you want tasks accomplished, what you want your brand to project. You should hire to fit all of these. While hiring, it is necessary to test the candidates on their personality and goals to see if they fit.

For instance, your company deals a lot with children, maybe you run an amusement park. You need a day-to-day events manager, and you find someone competent with amazing multi-tasking skills. The candidate looks perfect, but does he/she fit the company culture? Do they like working with children? Personality tests are important when selecting members of your team.

3. Hire Eager And Enthusiastic Candidates

Some job candidates just see your organization as a temporary spot before moving on to more preferred companies. Watch out for this kind of persons as they are not likely to put in their all. Look out for people who are eager to join your company. Also, when negotiating pay, be careful to not hire people who want more than your budget. They would usually just fly away at the next better offer because they had to settle in the first place.

After you’ve hired, take note of the following:

1. Strengths

Understand the strengths of members of your team and explore. This will help you nudge each person on the right track and help them shine best where they are comfortable. Your company gets excellent results this way.

2. Reiterate Your Vision, Objectives And Goals

Let everyone understand exactly what the company stands for. Building a successful team requires having members who know what they are working towards. Every member of the team should know what your vision, goals and objectives are at every point. To achieve this, there needs to be constant communication of policies and the idea behind these policies.

3. Mentor, Challenge And Involve Them

Let your new hires hit the ground running. Start to involve them in the company as soon as they start by assigning them tasks. Challenge your team members with problems and encourage creative solutions. Involve them in the growth of the company beyond their everyday tasks. Mentor them to become better persons both within and outside the workplace. By doing these you have an active team that feels like part of your company.

4. Consider Diversity

Having a team of persons from various backgrounds and diverse orientation towards life is key to building an efficient and successful team. They have different approaches to problem-solving and carrying out their tasks.

5. Define Roles

Make sure that everyone on the team has a specific role or set of roles. Ambiguity in role assignment can cause slackness in a team as responsibility is easily shifted. This does not mean that roles cannot overlap, but even when they do, it should be clearly defined how each member of the team is to handle their part.

6. Value And Invest In Your Team

Invest in members of your team. This is important because the value you add to them is what they give back to the company. It also motivates them to go the extra mile. Putting members of your team first gives them a feeling of camaraderie with the organisation.

Finally, Look out for problems

Early detection of problems among team members can help you curb bigger problems and losses. Problems like rigidity, personality clash between team members, bias and favouritism, and clashing agendas can destroy a business if not addressed early. However, quick discovery and solution will help ensure a successful team.