My son, a professional musician and leader of his band, shared with me the secrets to building a band that grows and sticks together. It sounded a lot like building leadership and business teams, so I am sharing them with you!

1. Bandmates must like each other

It sounds obvious, but it’s critical since they spend so much time together.

For your business, that means your teams should be willing to spend time together, respect each other and be honest with one another to work through critical issues and disagreements. 

Trust and openness are critical to team success.

If your team doesn’t have that, you can team build or do an intensive strategic retreat with a business consultant to build those bonds and develop conversations on strategies and decisions.

2. Bandmates must dig the music they make

This may also sound obvious, but good musicians tend to have varied interests and play all kinds of music, not just what you hear them play at a concert. They need to be able to commit long term to whatever music the band focuses on.

For your business, this means your teammates need to have passion for the work they and the company does. Working for money or because their best friend works there is not enough. Passion helps you make it through the low points and reach higher for the high points!

3. The band needs to be going somewhere

Serious bandmates want to be part of a band that has momentum and progresses toward a specific direction: improving musically, gaining traction in their scene and building an audience. 

The same goes for business leaders and any employee with ambition. They want to be part of a company with a clear purpose and business vision and are making constant strides forward!

Your job is to keep the momentum going and communicate to your team about the company’s progress.

4. Bandmates need to get paid, eventually

Serious musicians can’t work for free. They may start out as starving artists, but at some point they also need to eat, go on vacation and raise a family.

For business leaders, this means running a financially successful company and sharing the success with its teams. For front-line leaders, it means earning a good wage and having a place to build a solid career.

So how do you stack up?

How well are all your teams forming and performing in your company? Is your team like The Rolling Stones, or are they more like a one-hit wonder?

I work with many teams, taking a leadership team struggling to form and perform and helping set them up for multiple Gold records.

It’s not impossible, no matter how hard the struggle may appear in today’s hiring environment.

As the song says: “Don’t stop believin’.”