7 Tips for Creating a Dream Team: From Average to Awesome

Executive overview

Most managers train their people but never check whether the learning stuck. Growth requires both skill development and confidence-building — praise is not a soft extra, it is a lever. Employee wellness and personal dreams are business tools, not HR peripherals.

People perform when they feel trusted, developed, and genuinely cared for.

Checking that learning sticks

• Run a pre-test before training so learners see their own gaps.
• Run a post-test immediately after to confirm the learning landed.
• Retest at six or eight weeks to check retention — not just recall.
• Certify employees in skills to embed them deeply in the organisation.

Making fast decisions builds team trust

• Slow, hesitant answers erode confidence in a leader.
• Acting from intuition signals conviction; teams trust that over visible deliberation.

Growing new business leaders

• Focus on two things: growing their skills and growing their confidence.
• Core skill areas: situational leadership, coaching, delegation, time management, one-on-ones, problem-solving, conflict management.
• Pair skill development with constant, genuine praise for what they are doing well.
• People are still driven by the same need for recognition they had at sixteen.

Running performance improvement plans

• Keep PIPs to 30 days, not 90 — the business is moving too fast for longer timelines.
• Set proximal goals with buy-in from both the person and their leader.
• During the 30 days: only catch them doing things right, only coach and motivate.
• If you are waiting for them to fail, let them go today instead.

Training methods: shadow first

• Classroom training is the hardest, most time-consuming approach.
• Shadowing — sitting in on calls, emails, meetings — costs almost no extra time and teaches fast.
• The middle ground: a short structured course with pre-test, video, and role play elements.

Employee wellness means the whole person

• Wellness is not just physical health — it includes mental state and what employees carry from home.
• Start every one-on-one with a genuine check-in: how are they actually doing?
• Connecting on personal struggles before work topics increases engagement and loyalty.

Using bucket lists to motivate teams

• Ask every employee to write down up to 101 things they want to do before they die.
• Share the lists across the team — common dreams surface (travel, skills, experiences).
• The company does not need to fund them; awareness and encouragement are enough.
• When employees feel supported in their personal dreams, they invest more in the business.
• Push people to commit to specific dates — accountability makes it real.