Making People Happy by Making a Team

I’ve been self-employed for over 30 years; yes, I’m that old. 

I’ve started lots of different ventures and on reflection I’ve probably had as many financial successes as failures. Today I employ around 100 people, all of whom I like a lot. I have a festival, a shop, a pub, a Christmas tree farm, a café, some holiday cottages, a property company, two wedding businesses and quite a bit more.

For many years I thought that my entrepreneurship would make me rich. If I’m honest, that was probably my goal, to make loads of money. In fact, I defined ‘success’ as ‘financial success’; that’s the standard metric, isn’t it? I mean the guy with the Jaguar and the house in Ibiza, he’s successful, isn’t he? But I’ve never cashed out, never had my pay day and although I’ve been fortunate to earn well, I don’t have a fat pension and like most people, money worries regularly occupy my night sweats. 

So, by that standard metric my ventures are not successful. But some time ago I decided to recalibrate what, for me, defined business success. I’m not talking about success at home, a happy relationship, wonderful, healthy children, lots of fun; that’s different. What I’m talking about is success at work, about why I want to be an entrepreneur, what my raison d’etre for getting up in the morning and then working back-breakingly hard for the next goodness knows how many hours. 

And I begun to understand that what really interests me is people and that building happy, creative, hard-working, spirited and generous teams is my principal motivation. I was so bound up in notions of financial success that it took me years to understand this. But then it dawned on me that people were my main interest and that if I was clever, I could not only get the best from them at work but also enhance their lives in quite profound and dramatic ways.

This was an almost Damascene moment because not only did I -quite suddenly- understand that my principal skill was with people, but I realized that if I got that bit of the equation right then everything else (and particularly money) would follow. And so, I started thinking about how I could create teams that consistently thrived and either stayed around, working for me for years or thrived and left to pursue something else, feeling confident and inspired by their time with me. 

The key, I now see, is to treat people as I like to be treated myself, with kindness, consistency, politeness, focus and gentle honesty. My philosophy, if I can call it that, is about working together towards a common goal, day in, day out. It’s about making the experience of work a joyful, positive one. People are everything. In business, at home, in the street, the way that you treat people will alter the course of your life and of theirs, too. It’s a wonderful, beneficent power that all of us have.

Everyone is someone’s wife, brother, friend, grandmother, whatever. Remember that! Treat them as you’d like to be treated yourself and you’ll create a better world, one where people can thrive and, in turn, your business can thrive. 

If you’re thinking, I’m self-employed, I work alone and I’m not part of a team, you’re wrong, you are part of a team. You have an accountant, a delivery person, someone who drops off the mail, a computer whizz who fixes your stuff. These are your team and the way that you treat them will affect how they react to you, what they do for you, how you feel, how they feel. So, treat them like you’d like to be treated and they’ll respond in kind. 

Of course, sometimes you can be friendly, grateful or kind and it isn’t reciprocated. But that really doesn’t happen very often. Building a team is a necessary part of life, whatever you do, wherever you sit in the hierarchy and it makes everyone -you very much included- feel better. And when we feel better, we do better; we make better businesses.

I should just add that this really isn’t some hippy shit. I believe profoundly in correction and clear instructions and that we will have to reprimand people and that we must never, ever shy from our responsibility to correct people, to admonish people, to not try to be liked for the sake of it. I can’t bear negativity, laziness, tired excuses. But I believe in admonishing and reprimanding with kindness and compassion. Remember, even if they steal or shirk or lie, they’re still someone’s child or partner.

In many ways, this method of team building brings me full circle, back to making money, because good, engaged, motivated, happy teams make great businesses and great businesses thrive. You know what? I believe it works.

And just before I go, I should perhaps add that all of this has got me thinking about legacy. When I’m finally wheeled up the aisle and someone takes to the lectern, I want them to say that I affected them, made them happy, brought sparks of joy and creativity into their lives and gave them the confidence to do better; not that I made loads of money and had some expensive cars.

Charlie Gladstone
@chasgladstone