Who is going to win the World Cup?  It is the million pound question of the moment.

There must be reoccurring characteristics of teams that win.  Is it a certain training regimen?  A particularly strong offense?

Interestingly enough the experts on this subject, the Swiss-based CIES Football Observatory, decided that to determine who was going to win they were going to look at the records of the players in each squad, not an overarching team behaviour or group characteristic.

It is the individual members of the team’s unique abilities that will most likely lead to a win or loss according to the organisation.

This is very relevant for small to medium sized businesses, which are not much different to a football team—both in size and their desire to win against competitors.  PEOPLE MATTER MOST.  Who the team is comprised of is the single most important factor in determining the success of the group.

But there is one thing that businesses must consciously take into consideration that World Cup teams inherently do—it is how, where and when the people on the team interact.  Unless you unite individual employees into a true team, your business won’t benefit, even if you do have the best talent.

‘Uniting’ your employees doesn’t have to mean ridiculous team building days however, or requiring everyone to be at a weekly staff meeting.  There are things you can do that are simple, inexpensive and highly effective.

Talk, not email:  When people actually talk, even if just on the phone, there are less misunderstandings, questions can be answered on the spot and a comradery is built.  But in this day in age employees barely know how to use their office phone, preferring to write an email because it is easier.

Top tip?  Make calling easier.  Get a hosted VoIP phone system so on network calls are free (even if abroad), and Mitel phones (that are intuitive enough anyone can use them).

Hot desking: Collaboration reaches a whole new level when people are sitting next to each other.  Things are overheard, solutions magically found, friendships built.

Top tip?  Get different employees sitting next to each other.  This can be done easily if you have a VoIP phone system because employees can log into their number and settings on any phone in the office.

Develop good strategy:  Like a World Cup team, the individuals of a company need to be bound together practically by talking to and sitting near each other, but also by having a common goal and a shared plan for getting there.  While there are an infinite number of elements involved in creating a good strategy, knowing what is going wrong (and right) is certainly a great place to start.

Top tip?  Use features like Wallboard, Leaderboard, and Call Recording on your VoIP telephone system to effortlessly monitor how Customer Support, Sales and other teams are doing.

As for the FIFA 2014 World Cup winner, CIES Football Observatory says it will be Spain vs Brazil in the final, the winner of which will be… Spain!

For more information on VoIP phone systems and how they can help your business, please email sales@vtsl.net.