Aspects of Growth - 1/3 The Right Team
How to thrive the success of your product centered business
I tried to create a map one day of all aspects of a venture. I failed in the meaning of creating an overview but asked myself afterward what aspects really thrive growth and which are necessary evils. So the following is an idea of how to systematize aspects of growth.
There are three things you need for a successful business:
The right team
A killer product
Customers willing to pay significant money
and of course you need the investment to make the story big enough
As with writing the ideas and the content got more and more, Aspects of Growth will be released in three parts, one for each.
All things you do should be proven against those aspects. Things that don’t pay into one of them and aren’t prioritized against each other with that in mind, might be the wrong thing to do.
Hiring & Recruiting
Building a team starts with hiring the right people. It's crucial to have a clear understanding of the roles needed and the skills required for those roles. Effective hiring processes should focus on both technical competencies and cultural fit. Consider implementing structured interviews, technical assessments, and trial projects to gauge candidates accurately.
Recruiting is about attracting the right talent to your company. This involves not only job postings but also employer branding, networking, and engaging with potential candidates on platforms like LinkedIn. Recruitment should be proactive, not reactive.
Keep in mind that you do not only hire single people but build up a team and I like to phrase the metaphor of Tetris from this article I wrote a while ago:
Crafting a high-performing team is akin to mastering that game - a delicate balance of aligning individuals' horizontal competencies and vertical skill depth. The target as in Tetris is to create as less space in between the elements as possible. The space stands for communication gaps and potential conflicts. Except, you can decide yourself wich elements you put in, via thoughtful hiring.
Deeper Insight
If I would have to mention one thing that makes a difference in the earlier days of a startup, it would be cohesion. Of course this is an important topic in each team, but if you hired for the mindset, this is only one side of the medal, the fit withing the team, is the other. If people really want to let others shine, they will be much more supportive of each other and the energy put into their tasks will be off the scale.
Culture
Company culture is the backbone of employee satisfaction and productivity. A positive, inclusive, and transparent culture can drive motivation and innovation. Encourage open communication, celebrate successes but also chances to learn from mistakes, and foster a collaborative environment. Tools like regular feedback sessions and team-building activities can help nurture this culture, but it is more about the continuous way we talk, we tell stories and we appreciate the others in the team, than single occasions of celebration.
Culture Design
Culture is something that can only be shaped within the limits set by the management via leadership and the team via good or bad hiring. Within those limits I like the simple approach of the Culture Map as defined by Dave Gray.
Deeper Insights
The one thing that makes the difference in creative, complex environments is honoring the unusual and the pursuit of the new and unknown. Hold back with firing at bad decisions.
It is said, that you should not hire according to personal preferences. While that is true and you should definitely aim for a diverse team, you should also take into account that your team has to get along with each other a good amount of time. And while you do not have to love each other and go out for dinner every other day, a base of personal goodwill is very worthy! So to say a base of shared values, which is also key to the cultural aspect of the team.
Candor
Candor is about honest and direct communication. It helps in building trust and solving issues quickly. Encourage a culture where feedback is given and received constructively. Regular one-on-one meetings and retrospectives can foster an environment of openness.
If you want to know more on that topic I can deeply suggest reading Radical Candor by Kim Scott. Although I would say that some of the radical parts get relativized throughout the book, still it holds deep insights that are more than worth reading. The clue in this book is that Kim has insights into many of the big players and thematizes the differences and what comes out of them.
Trust and Collaboration
Trust is a key prerequisite for continuing to work together successfully, especially in larger companies. People often talk about trust or gambling away trust, but rarely do they talk about building trust or fostering an environment in which trust can develop and mistakes are not played off against others, but where people work together to solve problems.
So trust and collaboration is defined by culture and leadership
I like this talk of
with Todd Willkens of Qualio:
Superstars and Rockstars
As explained by Kim Scott in "Radical Candor," superstars are those who perform exceptionally well and seek rapid growth, while rockstars are reliable and steady performers. Both types are essential. Superstars drive change and innovation, whereas rockstars provide stability and consistency.
Deeper Insight
Rockstars are often those that can’t focus as much energy on work topics, or don’t want to, but also hold a team together. So you have to keep the shares in balance between rockstars and superstars. Also the status quo is not fixated. After a while it may change due to private circumstances or a shift in the mindset.
Leadership
Effective leadership is critical for guiding your team towards the company's goals. Leaders should inspire, support, and provide direction. They should also be adaptable, as different situations and team dynamics require different leadership styles.
Leadership is much more about honesty and interest in people than about planned actions and a fixed model. Leadership is one of the things you can’t learn without practicing.
The values in leadership where something I thought about a lot in one of my early articles. In my opinion authenticity, integrity and consistency are the key values, see also:
To find out more about the way to lead, that fits your personality, i am working on a leadership canvas. Stay tuned for more on that topic!
Self-Awareness
By the way, leadership starts with self-awareness. On that here’s a short read by
:
Deeper Insight
From what I’ve learned the principle of leading by context as defined by Spotify and many other is incredibly valuable, but this goes deeper than saying: “ We do this, because of that”. The idea is instead to enable people by transparency to make every decision aligned with a common goal, while feeling like being treated like adults instead of like a resource.
This is what empowerment is about!
And believe me: You do not know about even half the important decision your team members makes. Also it saves yourself time and effort!
Structure
the structure of teams is often discussed. I can only plead for a pragmatic mindset. Abstract frameworks or overcomplicated structures and decision-making-processes will only slow you down and the price you pay for the illusion of process-quality, ist the agility of your team.
—> Link
Conclusion
When hiring take care of a cultural team fit and the right capabilities and then lead the rockstars and superstars in the team with candor, transparency and context.