Team building with Lisa: starting a small business'Lisa's Story' is a case companion of Lisa starting a small business and her team building adventures Leading up to Lisa starting a small business After completing high school, Lisa worked in several organisations, mostly secretarial, administration and customer service positions. These jobs provided Lisa with a low to medium level salary which was only just sufficient to cover the living expenses of a single person in her late twenties who enjoyed a socially active lifestyle. Lisa wanted more out of her work, not just financially, but to put her knowledge and skills to the test and see what she could achieve in the world of business. Following several months of searching, Lisa secured a manager's job in the financial services industry. The opportunity before her was to manage the loan assessment department of a metropolitan finance business. Lisa did not think it would be all that hard as her previous bosses were fairly average performers and they seemed to be able to get along in their organisations. "To be a manager it was just common sense," or so she thought. There was a lot more to being an effective manager than using one’s common sense and Lisa found this out when a number of her plans went off the rails, including a near disaster when she made the wrong choice of person for her assistant manager. To her credit, Lisa endured a steep learning curve and learned to understand that management was more difficult than she had imagined and that her ability to get along with others in the organisation was as important as technical skills. The hardest thing Lisa found was getting people to do things. Lisa initially thought that as she was the manager then people should by and large do as she told them. This view stemmed from Lisa's own approach as a subordinate of doing her best to carry out her manager's instructions. She learned the hard way that not everybody shared her view on this. Lisa's determination to succeed assisted her through the difficult times when she and others in her team made mistakes and had to rectify them. With unsatisfied ambition and belief in her own ability, at the end of her fifth year in the job Lisa decided to take the next step and open her own small finance business. Lisa's business is located in Melbourne, Australia and provides financial services including loans, investments and insurance. She likes to think of her business as a one stop finance centre designed to offer financial solutions to small to medium sized businesses as well as to individuals looking for financial assistance with buying a home or car. Team building Half way through the year following the launch of her own business, Lisa decided it was time to get on with some team building and chose staff training as a way of building her team. Lisa employed two people in her business. Maria, a friend from high school, was Lisa's right hand person and her role, like Lisa's, was to interview customers seeking loans and investments. Penny was a recent addition to the team and fulfilled the receptionist position. One Tuesday morning Lisa sent emails to both Maria and Penny advising staff training would be held early the next day. Maria replied saying it was a good idea and she would be there, however, Penny excused herself from attending and said, "I have another engagement." Lisa was somewhat disappointed with Penny’s response and walked out to the reception desk and conveyed her feelings to Penny. In response Penny said, "I am sorry, but my work day starts at 8.30 am and I don't think I should have to come in early to do staff training." The reply triggered the prickly side to Lisa’s personality. "It wouldn’t hurt you and training is really important so that we can keep ahead of our competitors." Unhappy but recognising that her boss was not going to back down, Penny quietly said "Okay, I'll be there." "Good," said Lisa then walked back into her office and closed the door. Maria heard the exchange between Lisa and Penny as she returned from photocopying a customer’s loan documents. "Do you have to be somewhere else tomorrow morning?" she asked Penny. "No," replied Penny, "I just can't be bothered getting up at first light so I can catch the 7.30 train to be in here to listen to Lisa drone on about being as nice as pie to customers." Maria thought for a moment then said, "You might actually enjoy it." "Not likely, but I will be there," sighed Penny. At the end of the day after Penny had left, Maria entered Lisa’s office and sat down. The two friends usually enjoyed a chat after work to catch up on the day’s events. To this point in time, the division between them in terms of Lisa as employer and Maria as employee had not been an impediment to their friendship. Maria raised the issue of Penny’s reluctance to attend staff training to which Lisa expressed that she felt let down by Penny’s comments. Maria replied, "I don't think it's such a big deal, and remember that she has a life outside of work, not like some people." This comment was a slight dig at Lisa for spending so much time working and thinking about work. Maria continued, "Why don’t you show Penny how staff training can be lots of fun as she learns new skills?" "That's a good idea," replied Lisa excitedly. Maria could almost see Lisa's mind ticking over with thoughts of innovative training techniques. To Penny’s surprise, the next morning's staff training session was interesting, and while Lisa did ramble on about the importance of customer service, at least Penny learned how to input loan details on the computer data base, which was something new for her to do. Lisa was pleased with Penny's improved attitude and made plans for another session in a fortnight's time.
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