When bringing a team together, you need to set some basic ground rules for everyone to follow. This doesn’t mean you become an overly strict employer that runs an incredibly tight ship, it’s more a sense of putting rules in place that let everyone understand what’s expected of them and the company ethos you’re pushing forward. 

Setting these rules is important, and here are three examples of great ground rules your team should follow:

Always be on time

Punctuality is so crucial in the world of business. It might not seem like it, but a lack of punctuality can be the difference between a business succeeding or failing. You need to encourage your employees to always be on time, ensuring they turn up for work when they need to be in the office. Late arrivals can set you back some valuable minutes every morning, which translates to hours a year. It’s not just the morning arrivals that demand punctuality; they should be on time for meetings, sales calls, events, etc. Make it known that you value people that turn up on time and expect punctuality from everyone in your team. 

Put the customer first

Another clear ground rule is to put the customer first. This concept means that your employees will always make the customer’s needs the main priority in everything that they do. For example, they won’t try to upsell to a customer that’s clearly happy with the product/service they already have. Too many teams get into the habit of making sales the primary concern of daily life. This means you lose sight of the customer and stop catering to their needs. Always get to know the customer, understand what they want, then put them first. Even if this means going out of your way or doing something you’d rather not do; if it’s necessary to keep customers happy, your team needs to do it. 

Reduce, reuse, recycle

Lastly, you should set a company policy to ensure that everyone recycles as much as possible on a daily basis. The idea of promoting workplace recycling means that your employees will generate less waste. This is beneficial for all kinds of reasons, the primary one being that it helps the environment. You create a much greener workplace and can be proud of the fact that you are reducing waste and doing your bit to battle climate change. As a knock-on benefit, your reputation will increase as consumers recognize your recycling efforts. Consumers respect companies that make an effort to be green, and it all starts with you and your employees. Put a policy in place and make sure that your team follows it, increasing the number of recycled goods in your business. 

Clearly, there are lots of other ground rules you might want to set for your employees. Some of these rules can be industry-specific, but it’s all about considering the main behaviors or concepts that are critical for business success. The ones above are very general, meaning they can be used across industries. One final point is that the rules will only hold weight if you lead by example. If you want your employees to follow them, you need to do so as well!