A business is only as good as its team. If you want your business to succeed, you need employees who work efficiently, productively and harmoniously together. With so many different skillsets, work styles and personality types to balance, this can often be trickier than it sounds. So, what’s the best way to put together a high-performing team?

To find out, we sat down with Ian Edwards, Managing Director of Planalife and Business On Purpose, to chat about the importance of team dynamics and the simple steps you can take to build a team that works.

Team dynamics: why is it so important to get them right?

No matter how good your business plan, products or services may be, they won’t succeed without the right people in place to help them do so. As Ian says: “The greatest resource we have in our business is our people.”

But it’s not just a matter of sourcing the right individuals. It’s about the way they all fit together. It’s about ensuring that our team at large, as well as the smaller teams-within-the-team, can perform at a high level. And that’s where team dynamics comes in. “Understanding team management, team dynamics and behavioural analytics helps us to build powerful teams, and even little partnerships inside your team, so you have the right people joined together with the right skill base and the right behaviour base to bring out the best in each other,” Ian explains.

So what happens when your team dynamics are off? Well, it will be a costly mistake. “There’s an enormous amount of negative outcomes that can come from not understanding behavioural analytics and trying to put square pegs through round holes,” Ian explains. Chief among these is lost time due to a lapse in efficiency and productivity – and as every business owner knows, time is money.

Thoughtfully and strategically planning team dynamics will be the best thing you ever do for your business. By putting in the effort to ensure your team is dynamic, you’ll be setting up your business in the best possible position to fulfil its true potential.

Steps for building a high-performing team

We asked Ian about his formula for building a harmonious, high-performing team. Here are the steps he recommends…

1. Understand your team

First things first: you’ve got to know who you’re working with. And that means investigating and understanding the behaviour of each person in your team. “Behavioural analytics are absolutely essential to running effective teams,” Ian says.

At Business On Purpose, Ian’s approach is to use multiple questionnaires to understand employees at a deeper level. These include DiSC profiles, asset analyses, emotional intelligence questionnaires, and investigations into stress management, conflict resolution and learning styles. “With these questionnaires, we can quickly see a well-rounded understanding of the person – what they might be suited to, where their attributes will grow, where their struggles will be, and what’s significant about bringing that person into certain roles within the company,” Ian explains.

2. Research the dynamics of your team

As well as understanding your individual employees, it’s vital to explore the ways they work together as a team. “It’s about identifying where problems exist, potential can be explored and profit can be increased – forming effective partnerships within your team and allowing them to get the best out of each other,” Ian explains.

Smaller groups and partnerships within your team function as smaller cogs in the overall machine. It’s vital to be able to predict how each of these cogs will operate and effect each other; if you don’t, you risk jamming the machine and hindering the overall progress of the business. “You can have two people who are pretty good individually, but when you join them into a team, all of a sudden their efficiency rate drops off,” Ian says. “A lot of the time that’s because of not understanding the dynamics of what putting those two people together will mean.”

3. Consider the structure of the workplace

The physical structure of your workplace can be just as important as the structure of your team itself. Creating an environment where each team member has the space they need to work to their particular strengths is vital.

As well as considering whether people are being matched to the right tasks for their behavioural styles and motivations, Ian recommends considering things like “whether people should be in private rooms, whether they should be in open workspace, whether they should face people or face away from people”, and so on.

4. Be ready to change

The bottom line: none of the above steps will work if you and your employees aren’t ready to change. Sometimes a floor-to-ceiling shakeup is needed to ensure your team is performing to the highest possible standard. While this might sound daunting, it’s important to be flexible as your business grows and changes – and when you understand your team members thoroughly, this becomes a whole lot easier.

“None of employment is static. Even though you give people a role, that role will develop over time,” Ian reminds us. “And when we can see inside a person a little bit more and have more predictable behavioural patterns, we can understand proactively what we might need to do to be able to get the best result out of that employee.”

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Ian Edwards provides a range of coaching services and short courses to help people “plan a life they want to live in” and “have a business on purpose”. With 36 years of experience in a variety of business types, Ian takes a holistic approach with clients, aiming to create fulfilling life plans and thriving, successful businesses and teams.

If you’re looking for a space to house your team, why not give Dashworks a try? Join over 120 other professionals and entrepreneurs – book your free 5-day trial here.

When people think of coworking spaces, they often associate the concept with individuals: freelancers, solo entrepreneurs and the like. But these days, more and more companies are choosing coworking spaces for their employees as an alternative location to the standard corporate office.

Online loan provider MoneyMe is one such company – and they’ve found a home at Dashworks. Let’s take a look at some of the reasons corporate businesses like this one are choosing coworking spaces for their teams and employees.

1. Flexible working arrangements

Flexibility is becoming an ever-more important asset in the modern workplace, for businesses and individual workers alike. Flexible working arrangements allow a healthier work-life balance for employees, boost productivity, aid in the quest for gender equality, and much more.

Having the option of a coworking space gives your company a flexibility advantage right off the bat, ensuring you’re keeping up with the times for the benefit of your employees and your business as a whole.

2. An alternative to employees working from home

One of the most common ways companies introduce flexible working arrangements is allowing employees to work from home. However, this doesn’t necessarily work for everyone. That’s where a coworking space comes in.

Having a dedicated company space in a coworking facility removes all the productivity-killing distractions of the home office. Plus, it reintroduces the convenience of office amenities (high-speed internet, ergonomic desks, breakout spaces, and did someone say coffee on tap?!), while still remaining fresh and separate from the traditional corporate environment. It’s the best of both worlds. 

 

3. Increased productivity

Sometimes all you need is a space to focus entirely on a project, and that can be hard to find in an often-distracting traditional office environment. But it’s a different story with coworking. Employees have a workspace that feels much more like their own, and a schedule to match – all of which generally leads to a big increase in productivity.

Coworking spaces also introduce an increased sense of autonomy and freedom and a more relaxed atmosphere, contributing greatly to employees’ mindsets and mental health. Forget the rigid, uncomfortable corporate attire and environment – we’re talking jeans and tees, ambient tunes playing, breakout spaces and lounge pods… Teams get their best work done when they’re feeling their best, and that’s often much easier in a coworking space.

4. Increased employee engagement

Speaking of feeling your best… A happy employee is an engaged and motivated one, so it’s no surprise that many corporate employees who have the option of a coworking space are better able to engage with their work. This mode of work can reduce the travel time and stress often associated with a typical CBD office commute and schedule. The result? Employees have more time for family, exercise, self-care and all those other things so important to health, wellbeing and happiness – giving them the capacity to be more switched on and engaged at work than ever.

The flexibility and atmosphere of a coworking space also contributes towards a positive, cohesive workplace culture, which in turn encourages engagement. This is one of the reasons MoneyMe chose Dashworks as an expansion point for their team. “While MoneyMe is now six years old, a lot of our current staff have been here from the beginning and are very much in touch with our start-up culture,” says Jake Havey, Credit and Payments Manager. “We were firm believers that having our Newcastle team start in a similar environment would be a great way to keep in touch with our company culture.”

5. Employee retention/Travelling employee base

In yet more benefits for employees, the increased availability of coworking spaces gives companies more options than ever for retaining and facilitating the talent on their teams.

Got a team member who’s moving to a new location? There’s no need to lose them – just get them set up at their local coworking facility as a remote employee. Have travelling employees who need somewhere to base themselves? Secure them a coworking space and watch their productivity flourish, even when they’re on the road. It’s a win/win all round.

6. Increased knowledge of new technology and trends

Technology is the industry most commonly associated with coworking spaces, so it’s pretty much a given that you’ll be working alongside tech professionals, founders and start-ups when you use such a space. This close proximity, paired with the regular events often held in coworking communities, provides your company with increased exposure to new tech and trends.

This is something that’s proven true for MoneyMe. “Collaboration for a company such as ours is extremely important. We value the ability to learn, collaborate and grow by learning from those around us,” says Jake. “A coworking environment has allowed our team to learn from others that they may otherwise not have had the chance to engage with. Whether it be through the regularly scheduled speaker series, once-off events or just a friendly communal lunch, our team has greatly appreciated the chance to chat and learn from some inspiring people.”

7. Space to test a new market

If your company is ready to branch out and test the waters in a new area, what better way than to set up a satellite office in a coworking space? Whether it’s one employee or an entire new team, having a presence within a shared workspace in your new location can help increase your reach and market share. And as a bonus, your satellite worker or team will be situated among like-minded businesses and people.

“There were a number of reasons why MoneyMe decided Dashworks was the right choice for our expansion into Newcastle,” says Jake. “Expansion can always be a little tricky, and with a brand-new team, selecting the right working environment was important. Our intention was to surround the new team with dedicated, like-minded people all driven towards similar goals and objectives.”

The close proximity to other companies can also offer increased opportunities for B2B sales. Situating a sales or business development staff member in a coworking space is an easy way to foster important connections and grow your network and client base.

 

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Looking for a coworking space for your company? Why not join a host of other national and local businesses at Dashworks? Click here to book your free 5-day trial.

From increasing productivity to improving your mental health, there are so many ways coworking spaces can benefit remote workers. If you’re a remote employee who’s never tried out a coworking space, read on for seven great reasons to do so!

 

1. Boost your productivity and creativity

It’s clear from the ever-rising numbers of remote workers that escaping the traditional workplace is an attractive prospect for many. But as the Harvard Business Review points out: ‘Too much autonomy can actually cripple productivity because people lack routines.’

If you’re a remote employee who needs a little support to ensure your workdays stay structured and productive, or if you’re simply looking for an environment that will boost your creativity, a coworking space is a great choice. There’s been loads of research into coworking spaces in recent years, including the ways such spaces can boost productivity and amplify creativity.

2. Eliminate the distractions of working from home

Any remote employee will be familiar with the struggles of working from home. The home office definitely has its benefits (lunchtime beach walks? Never having to wear shoes to work again?! Count us in). But it also has its drawbacks – first and foremost of which is the dreaded D word: distraction.

No matter how focused you are, the truth about working from home is that it’s an inherently more distracting environment than any other workplace. You might think you’re being as productive as possible, but when you add up all those times you stopped to put a load of washing on or to have a ‘quick’ (read: hour-long) social media break, you’ll often find that you’ve been more distracted than you thought. Working from a coworking space cuts through this distraction, giving you all the benefits of a more formal work environment without taking away the remote-work flexibility you love.

3. Participate in growth and development opportunities

Coworking spaces often run a program of events to help foster the professional development of their members. Often, remote workers may find it difficult to access the same development opportunities as in-house employees. And that’s where these kinds of coworking event programs come in handy, helping remote workers stay on top of – and ahead of – the game.

At Dashworks, for example, we run 12 ‘Speaker Series’ events each year – special sessions designed to fuel your growth and increase your skills. We enlist knowledge experts and key speakers to discuss the latest trends, insights and education in areas relevant to you. (And did we mention lunch is on us?!)

 

4. Network (and make new friends)

We all know the importance of networking in business. No matter your profession, the people you connect with can have a huge impact on your professional growth and success.

When you’re a remote employee, networking opportunities tend to become a little lighter on the ground. But joining a coworking space is an easy way to increase those opportunities. You’ll become part of a community of like-minded individuals and immediately open yourself up to the potential for connection and collaboration.

Professional networking aside, the simple act of meeting new people and potentially making new friends can also be a boost – both for your business and your state of mind. Which brings us to our next point…

5. Improve your mental health

Humans are social creatures. We thrive off interaction with others. But when you’re a remote worker, regular social contact might be a rarity in your workday. This can be detrimental to your mental health, resulting in a lack of stimulation and feelings of isolation. But there’s a solution. Enter the coworking space: a perfect balance between the flexibility of a remote workspace and the social benefits of a community environment.

‘Social interactions in coworking spaces may come in various forms,’ says one research paper published in Frontiers in Psychology. ‘On the one hand, people may simply work alongside each other or engage in rather casual conversation. On the other hand, coworkers may engage in networking, seek and obtain feedback, share ideas, or collaborate.’

6. Pay less than you would in a commercial office space

There’s no getting around the fact that commercial office space can be expensive, and that this cost can be restrictive for remote workers. But with the right coworking space, you can get all the features you need in a workspace for just a fraction of the price of traditional office space. (Dashworks’ flexible memberships start at just $300/month – check out our membership pricing here.)

As a remote employee, you might even be able to seek assistance from your company to pay for your monthly membership fee. Again from the Harvard Business Review: ‘Workers with company-subsidised [coworking space] memberships feel that their employers take their needs seriously – regardless of where they are located.’ As the rise of remote work continues, employers will be keen to stay with the times and ensure their remote workers feel just as valued and supported as their in-house employees – so it’s worth asking about!

7. Work in a beautiful contemporary environment

Coworking spaces have come a long way in recent years. Featuring more thoughtful design and a wider range of resources than ever before, coworking environments have never been more inviting to the modern worker.

As the USYD Business School points out: ‘[Commercial] serviced offices … tend to be designed for the travelling senior corporate business person, and thus often resemble traditional corporate spaces.’ But remote employees aren’t traditional corporate workers. That’s why the fresh, contemporary alternative offered by a coworking space is so appealing. Think enterprise-grade facilities, breakout spaces, first-rate meeting rooms, handy outside-the-box amenities like kitchens and showers… All this and more is on offer when you choose the right coworking space.

 

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If you’re a remote worker looking for a space to focus, connect and boost your productivity, why not give Dashworks a try? Join over 120 other professionals and entrepreneurs – book your free 5-day trial here.

For today’s brands and businesses, there are few things more important than the customer experience (CX). Success can be built or broken by customers and the way they perceive, interact with and remember your business. So what are the key things business owners and marketers need to know about this modern marketing cornerstone?

To find out, we sat down with the two customer experience superstars behind local digital marketing agency, Method+Marketing, to chat all things CX. Co-founders Angela Henderson and Katie Cowling gave us their best insights into what customer experience is, how to measure it, and what steps you can take to create a customer-centric strategy for growth and success.

What is customer experience and why is it so important?

It’s easy to conflate customer experience with customer service. However, they’re not one and the same – rather, customer service is just one part of the overall customer experience.

‘I think it’s really important to define that customer experience is a whole lot bigger than just customer service,’ explains Angela, Method+Marketing’s Director of Client Services. ‘[Customer experience] is the overall impression that your business or your brand leaves with a customer, based on how they’ve interacted with your business across all of the multiple touchpoints in that customer journey, and what they think of that experience.’

With advances in technology, increases in online reviews and a larger wealth of consumer choice than ever before, it’s never been more important to get proactive and prioritise a positive customer experience.

How can you measure customer experience?

In order to understand the positives and negatives of your current customer experience (and how to make improvements), it’s vital to be able to measure that experience. But what are the best ways to do so?

‘Asking for feedback is important,’ says Katie, Method+Marketing’s Director of Digital Services. In the online age, of course, it’s also important to stay keyed in to your online traffic, stats and performance: ‘You can look at bounce rates and where customers drop out in the buyer journey,’ Katie points out.

Secret shopping services that evaluate the customer experience can be hugely beneficial, too, giving you firsthand insight into the personal and emotional beats of the customer journey. ‘In the big picture, when customers buy, it’s hugely subconscious and driven by emotions,’ Katie explains. ‘So a lot of it is hard to measure, but actually getting real, insightful feedback, like [using] a mystery shopper or doing customer feedback surveys, is what really helps.’

As well as choosing the right measurement methods, Angela adds that it’s just as important to be consistent in your cycle of measurement, analysis and improvement. ‘It’s an ongoing process of measuring and optimising so you can continue to keep your customer journey promise,’ she explains. ‘The trick is to make it a consistent, continuous thing that’s a part of the culture of your organisation – to be consistently wanting to improve it and make it better.’

Four top tips for CX success

For anyone needing to kickstart their CX overhaul, here are some of Angela and Katie’s top tips…

1. Plan, plan, plan

The first step for any business is to create a solid plan for enhancing the customer experience – one that takes a holistic approach to improvement and growth.

‘Try to figure out what you’re going to put in place in all the different areas of your organisation – your customer service, your sales, your marketing, your product – to make sure you’re delivering that really positive experience across all of the interactions your customer has with your brand,’ advises Angela.

2. Create a customer journey map

A particularly helpful visual tool that can be used in your planning is a customer journey map.

‘A customer journey map is basically a visual representation of the process that the customer goes through to achieve a goal with your company,’ explains Katie. ‘So, for example, if they are looking to buy a product, that might be the goal; then the journey that they take up to that point – and beyond, for that matter – is something you can plot out in a customer journey map.’

Breaking down the customer journey helps to identify and clarify their needs. It also illuminates where along the way customers experience the most motivation, and where there might be some pain points that can be improved.

3. Get your employees on board

It’s vital to communicate your vision for a great customer experience to your employees, and to highlight their role in providing that experience. As well as keeping everyone on the same page, this makes for a motivated team with a unified purpose.

‘If your employees understand how important their role is, and they feel really valued by your business, they’re going to be so much more willing to help you create that experience for your customers,’ says Angela.

4. Be authentic

The M+M team’s final tip is a simple one: be authentic and human in your approach to the customer experience. Everything from back-of-house operations to marketing and sales should reflect the authenticity and integrity of your team and business.

‘You should have a really clear brand strategy that outlines what your brand personality is, and make sure that you inject that into your engagement with customers throughout that customer journey,’ Katie advises.

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Members of Dashwork Makespace, Method+Marketing is a Newcastle-based agency focused on driving business growth and ROI through customer-centric digital marketing. Co-founded by Angela Henderson and Katie Cowling in 2016, Method+Marketing offers a range of services, strategies and workshops to help create meaningful marketing that customers love.

If you’re looking for a space to work on your new customer experience plan, why not give Dashworks a try? Book your free trial here and get your First Month Free! (Offer valid until 15 August 2019. Applies to Annual Memberships only. Use promo code 1FREE).

Moonlighting: holding a second job, especially at night.

Young medical professionals, in particular, are no strangers to moonlighting. Joshua S. Coren in his article advising young doctors, ‘IS MOONLIGHTING RIGHT FOR YOU?‘ explains the circumstances that led him to moonlighting: ‘When I was a second-year family medicine resident and my wife was a first-year pediatric resident, we struggled with the simplest of financial relationships: income vs. expenses. The income we generated was no match for the expenses of two children, a mortgage payment, day care tuition, basic living costs and student loans. Cutting back on any of these fixed expenses was nearly impossible, so we knew we had to increase our revenue. But how?’

The answer for him, of course, was plying his valuable trade outside of normal employment hours and generating a second income. 

Moonlighting, however, is not just for young doctors. Anybody in a tight financial situation will have considered it. Those saving for a house might have, too. The purpose of this article though, is to help people who want to build their own business at the same time as maintaining significant employment. Without further adieu, here’s how to moonlight your way to self-employment. 

1) Ask yourself: Why do I want to do this?

Is it that you’re just bored with your 9-to-5? Do you hate answering to somebody else? Are you a risk-taker who’s more excited about giving up sleep and weekends for a few years in exchange for a shot at financial success beyond that of normal employment?

Everybody’s answer will be different. Your circumstances will determine your answer most of the time, and your personality plays a big part too. If you have a morgage and kids, a secure, full-time job combined with flexible hours and 4 weeks’ annual leave probably sounds more valuable to you than moonlighting with no guarantee of a payoff.

A helpful way to analyse whether or not you should begin your business by moonlighting is to think of it in basic investment terms: Risk vs Reward. The risk is, your health may be affected (loss of sleep, extra stress, less time for exercise), your family time may suffer, you might miss out on holidays etc. The potential reward is financial gain, independence, legacy, etc. Knowing which of these things are most important to you will help you accurately assess whether moonlighting your way into self-employment is worth it for you. 

2) Identify any conflicts or contractual obligations

This one can stop you dead in the water either from the outset or, catastrophically, once you’ve begun trading. 

Step One: Read your employment contract, if you have one. Most employment contracts will have terms surrounding alternate employment, providing paid services in the same industry, etc. You may lose your job or be legally engaged if you breach your contract. Depending on the terms, there may even be a ‘cooling off’ period that prevents you from operating your own business in the same industry for a number of years after termination of your employment. It pays to be vigilant!

Step Two: Identify any potential conflicts of interest. For example, if you’re employed full-time in the Office of Gambling and Liquor, and you want to start a microbrewery, you might need to re-assess one job or the other. Conflicts of interest are taken very seriously by ASIC and other regulatory bodies should an issue present itself.

Step Three: If in doubt, seek legal advice.  

3) Get familiar with helpful systems

If this is the first time you’ve moonlighted (or worked for yourself), you’re going to need strong systems to make sure you’re not straying from the path. Some basic systems that may be helpful are:

• Trello – basic project management software. (Free)
• Tracking Time – Chrome extension for tracking your hours. (Free)
• Xero – simple accounting software. ($25/mo)
• Hubspot – simple sales/marketing/CRM platform. (Free)

There’s a million other great platforms and systems that you can use to systematise your workflow and boost your productivity. 

Implementing a robust system that encompasses most aspects of your workflow is a great way to make sure you’re not wasting your limited moonlit hours.  

4) Optimise your working environment

Make sure you have everything you need in order to be productive from Day 1.

Everyone knows the basics (Computer, desk, phone, stationery), but here are a few things you might not realise you need prior to starting up a business by moonlight:

1. A comfortable chair. The dining room chair might suffice, but you’re going to be spending long hours plugging away behind a screen and unbroken concentration is the aim of the game. A rule I live by is: ‘Don’t skimp on anything that connects you to the ground’ – that includes shoes, mattresses, tyres, and office chairs.
2. Natural Light. There are many reasons why natural light is so valuable in human physiology and psychology (see this article for more info). In fact, it’s so valuable that you should base your decision on which room in the house to work from based on the amount of available natural light. You’ll sleep better, you’ll be more productive, and you’ll be happier for it.
3. A suitable playlist and good headphones to block out distractions. This is obviously very subjective, but these three genres are tried and tested productivity-boosters: natural environments (think: rainforests), video game music (like this), and classical. 
4. Healthy snacks nearby. I know it, and you know it: you’re not hungry, you’re just procrastinating. If you’re really hungry, that bag of almonds you keep on your desk will do. You don’t need to get up and go to the fridge again. 

If you find other tips that work for you, please share in the comments below!

 

5) Identify what kills your focus, and remove it from the equation

This one is pretty basic. 

As you progress with moonlighting, take notice of the things you spend your time on that aren’t work-related. If you find yourself constantly browsing your favourite procrastination destination (e.g. Facebook or Reddit), block it. Google Chrome has a great extension called Block Site that will deter you from visiting and wasting time. 

Other time-wasters might be more difficult to remove. Ask your spouse to hide the TV remote or pool cue. Sell the PlayStation. Whatever you have to do. There’ll be plenty of leisure time once you’ve moonlit your way to comfortable self-employment.   

6) Watch for burnout

Everybody has a different workload threshold. If you notice these symptoms, take a break. If you’re experiencing these in the short-term, you may not have a long-term in this business.

• Chronic fatigue/lack of energy/tiredness
• Insomnia
• Extreme emotions (e.g. anger, cynicism)
• Anxiety or Depression
• Forgetfulness
• Loss of Appetite
• Detachment/Loss of enjoyment 
• Loss of productivity

Taking a break is not a weakness. It’s a sign of self-awareness, and your business will be better for it.