多年以来，如何打造一支优秀的团队一直都是困扰企业家们的难题。归根结底，就是没有一个可以现学现用的套路，能让整个团队精力充沛地去实现企业目标。一支优秀的团队是要靠时间打磨的，同时也需要公司高层的认真付出。

我的几次创业经验告诉我：把控并且最终消除精神层面的障碍和良莠不齐（这些都会抑制员工和企业的发展）非常重要。在职员们还没入职前的招聘阶段就要开始注意这一点了。在BetterWorks，我们认为优秀员工之所以能够脱颖而出，就是因为他们的活力——对于工作以及希望加入团队的那份极具感染力的热情。他们越是充满活力，就越能够胜任他们的职业角色，在接下来的成长道路上也就越自信、越积极。他们每天都在想着要变得更好。基于这样的理念，我们已经打造出了一支非常优秀的团队，每个成员都志趣相投。

让你的团队决定他们想跟怎样的人一起工作，并且迅速高效地带这些新员工上手。每招收一名新员工，都会有至少六名老员工参与。所以，我们的大部分工作都要求跨部门合作；而且对于将来想同谁合作，决定权在整个团队，这就意味着我们招收的员工都很有竞争力，并且长期符合我们公司的文化和价值观。按照这样的原则，我们已经打造出一支丰富多样的团队。有的员工积极进取，职业道德经常会超出我们的想象；有的员工经验丰富，成为整个团队不可或缺的人物。还有一点，在我们公司，女性领导者占一半以上。

招来新员工之后，我们就会进入“强化阶段”。我们会鼓励他们去切实践行团队价值观，例如正直与追求卓越。如何打消“这个不是我负责”这样的念头？我们的做法很简单，就是规定员工不许这么说。我们的C级员工对于他们的所有目标都坦诚布公——包括每个季度他们将会带进几名新员工以及创造多少的财政预算和营销收入。真诚、坦率不仅有效地促进了员工之间的沟通和协调；与此同时，我们还慢慢地将这些优秀品质灌输为企业价值观。因为正是这些价值观才使得我们的团队长此以往地强大下去。

你希望你的团队拥有什么样的价值观，就要按照这样的价值观去培养他们，并且将这些优秀的品质定为规范准则。就我们公司而言，这个品质就是活力。活力不仅关系到招纳新员工，也是所有经理人需要慢慢培养的一种品质。我们希望团队里所有的人都能对他们所做的工作充满激情，并且可以有一个分享和创新的安心之所。如果你能知行合一，那么你的团队自然也会变得更强大。（财富中文网）

译者：刘伟义

The science of building a strong team has puzzled entrepreneurs for years. When it comes down to it, there is no single plug-and-play formula for building a team that will execute your company vision with vigor. A strong team is built over time, and requires serious effort from the higher-ups at a company.

After building a couple of startups from the ground up, I’ve come to understand how vital it is to navigate—and ultimately avoid—the mental roadblocks and misalignment that might hinder employee and company growth. This starts with the hiring process—before the employees’ first day of work. At BetterWorks, what we believe sets the strongest candidates apart from their peers is “sparkle”—or their contagious enthusiasm for the work they do and why they want to join our team. The more sparkle they exude, the stronger they’ll be in their role, and the more confident and willing they are to continue down a path of growth. People with sparkle rarely plateau. They want to become better every single day. We’ve built a strong team of like-minded individuals rooted in this philosophy

Empower your team to hire who they want to work with, and onboard them quickly and effectively. We get a half a dozen people or more involved each time we add a team member. So much of what we do requires cross-collaboration with other departments, and allowing the team to have a say in who they’ll be working with in the future means we’re bringing in people who are a strong, long-term fit for our company culture and values. Through this practice, we’ve built up such a diverse team. Some are up-and-comers whose work ethic goes above and beyond what we could have imagined, and others are seasoned veterans whose experience proves indispensable for our team. Women own more than half of the leadership roles in our company.

Once new employees are hired, we move into a “strengthening phase.” We reinforce team values, like integrity and excellence, by encouraging employees to really practice them. We’ve eliminated the “that’s not my job” mentality just by making it the standard not to say it. Our C-level staff is open and transparent with all of their goals—from the number of new hires they’ll bring on each quarter to our financial outlook and sales revenue numbers. Honesty and transparency do more than effectively communicate and align our workforce; we actually instill these strengths as company values, and it’s these values that make our team strong for the long haul.

Build your workforce based on the values you want your team to hold, and foster these attributes by making them the norm. For us, that’s sparkle. Sparkle doesn’t just matter when a person is hired—it’s something all managers develop over time. We want all of the people on our team to grow in enthusiasm for the work they do, and have a safe place to share their ideas and try new things. Your team will naturally get stronger when you practice what you preach.