--- title: How to build a strong team description: Building and retaining a great team is a challenge in today's tight labour market, so here are some tips for successful team building. image: https://blog.jpabusiness.com.au/hubfs/Building%20a%20team%20crop.jpg --- 18 April 2023 # How to build a strong team WRITTEN BYJames Price | JPAbusiness ![Building a team crop](https://blog.jpabusiness.com.au/hs-fs/hubfs/Building%20a%20team%20crop.jpg?width=1000&height=883&name=Building%20a%20team%20crop.jpg) Building a strong team is probably the biggest challenge for business owners in many industry sectors today. With a tight labour market and competitive pressures, it’s hard for businesses to attract and retain staff, and ensure an effective and stable team is in place to support the business’s market offering and vision. A mismatch in business owner and employee expectations, the competing interests of personal, career and business priorities, workplace culture and flexibility as to how and when we work, are all factors that can have a huge impact on business efficiency, operations and value. There are no silver bullets, but the challenge is not insurmountable, even in today’s difficult labour market. ### Actions/remedies/tips: There is no set formula for building a team, because ultimately every company has a unique set of ‘ingredients’, i.e. people. But there are some key elements of successful team building:      1. Assess your existing capability Work with your existing team to develop a shared understanding of where you are in terms of your capability (as individuals and also as a ‘working team’). It’s important to involve the team in this process as they may well have a different view of their capability than you have as the team leader.      2. Identify and fill gaps Once you’ve identified capability and skills gaps determine how to fill them. If it’s a matter of improving individuals’ capabilities or performance, consider training and professional development, reward and recognition opportunities, and performance management. If it’s a matter of improving team performance, consider the current team culture and practice. Get the team talking and ascertain their view on the culture and how the team really operates e.g. do they have each other’s backs, do they feel the team is a safe space to own their failures and learn from them, or do they fear they will be persecuted for mistakes? Changing a team culture is a very deliberate process and it won’t be achieved by simply holding a team barbecue once a year.      3. Align your recruitment processes to ensure they mesh with the team expectations and culture, and the capability requirements. ### Related resources [How to get good staff and keep them](https://blog.jpabusiness.com.au/operator/how-to-get-good-staff-and-keep-them) [Managing staff for high performance](https://blog.jpabusiness.com.au/operator/managing-staff-for-high-performance) [Training and professional development advice](https://blog.jpabusiness.com.au/operator/training-and-professional-development-advice) [Surfer dudes, janitors and the Ritz-Carlton – Lessons in leadership and business culture](https://blog.jpabusiness.com.au/operator/surfer-dudes-janitors-and-the-ritz-carlton-lessons-in-leadership-and-business-culture)   This blog comes from our ebook: [How to overcome 6 business pain points](https://blog.jpabusiness.com.au/operator/how-to-overcome-6-business-pain-points). If you need support dealing with pain points in your business, we’re keen to help you. Feel free to [get in touch](https://www.jpabusiness.com.au/contactus) for a confidential, obligation-free discussion.   ![How to overcome 6 business pain points cover](https://blog.jpabusiness.com.au/hubfs/1.%20Images/Updated%20document%20cover%20images%202022/How%20to%20overcome%206%20business%20pain%20points%20cover.png) Free ebook How to overcome 6 business pain points This ebook examines 6 common business pain points and provides actions, remedies and tips to help alleviate the pain: Working *in* the business instead of *on* the business; Building a team; Managing growth; Being tied to the business; Work-life balance; Cash flow. [Learn more ](https://blog.jpabusiness.com.au/operator/how-to-overcome-6-business-pain-points) Share this Article Share this blog post on Twitter [mailto:?subject=Share%20this%20blog%20post&body=https://blog.jpabusiness.com.au/blog/how-to-build-a-strong-team](mailto:?subject=Share%20this%20blog%20post&body=https://blog.jpabusiness.com.au/blog/how-to-build-a-strong-team) Copied to clipboard Topics - [running your business ](https://blog.jpabusiness.com.au/blog/topic/running-your-business) - [staff management ](https://blog.jpabusiness.com.au/blog/topic/staff-management) - [running a business ](https://blog.jpabusiness.com.au/blog/topic/running-a-business) - [team building ](https://blog.jpabusiness.com.au/blog/topic/team-building) About James Price | JPAbusiness James Price has over 30 years’ experience in providing strategic, commercial and valuation advice to Australian and international business clients. James’ blogs provide business advice for aspiring and current small to mid-sized business owners, operators and managers. #### Related Blog Posts ### [7 secrets to growing a great team culture](https://blog.jpabusiness.com.au/blog/7-secrets-to-growing-a-great-team-culture) A good team or business culture is hard to codify or document, but you can definitely feel it.... [Read more ](https://blog.jpabusiness.com.au/blog/7-secrets-to-growing-a-great-team-culture) ### [How do I give key staff an ownership stake in my business?](https://blog.jpabusiness.com.au/blog/how-do-i-give-key-staff-an-ownership-stake-in-my-business) From our experience, a successful employee incentive and ownership framework displays the following... [Read more ](https://blog.jpabusiness.com.au/blog/how-do-i-give-key-staff-an-ownership-stake-in-my-business) ```json { "@context" : "https://schema.org", "@type" : "BlogPosting", "author" : { "@type" : "Person", "name" : "James Price | JPAbusiness", "url" : "https://blog.jpabusiness.com.au/blog/author/james-price-jpabusiness" }, "dateModified" : "2026-05-19T03:56:51.308Z", "datePublished" : "2023-04-18T16:00:00.000Z", "headline" : "How to build a strong team", "image" : [ "https://blog.jpabusiness.com.au/hubfs/Building%20a%20team%20crop.jpg" ], "mainEntityOfPage" : { "@id" : "https://blog.jpabusiness.com.au/blog/how-to-build-a-strong-team", "@type" : "WebPage" }, "publisher" : { "@type" : "Organization", "logo" : { "@type" : "ImageObject", "url" : "https://blog.jpabusiness.com.au/hubfs/JPAbusiness-logo.svg" }, "name" : "JPAbusiness Pty Ltd" } } ```