Trending
In my experience mentoring aspiring technology entrepreneurs, one of the most common questions I always encounter is how to acquire the necessary team to develop and deliver the solution envisioned. Alternatives available include doing it yourself, assembling your own new team, hiring an experienced local professional team, or contracting the work to be done offshore.
I’m convinced from my own years in business that having the right team is key to building and running any business. Cutting corners or trying to move forward with a dysfunctional or less effective team usually results in disaster. Even big companies, including Microsoft, Apple, and IBM, know this and spend extensive time and resources building high-performance teams.
That’s why I always recommend acquiring or building your own team, if possible, for long-term success. This should be done with strict discipline and minimal dependence on contract work, adhering to the following key principles:
1. Find future thinkers rather than just solving today’s problem. The best solutions need to have longevity and resilience to competition, rather than just meeting an initial plan specification. The best teams are always looking at future growth needs and new customer sets that may be attracted with minimal new design and development.
2. Prioritize cultural fit over skill depth and industry background. To get maximum team productivity, you need people who collaborate well and are able and willing to listen and communicate with each other, and peacefully resolve tough issues. This also allows the team to make decisions autonomously without being overwhelmed by strong players.
3. Select people with values and vision that matches yours. The team members you need, inside or outside, must be as excited by your idea as you are, and see it as the “holy grail,” rather than just another assignment. You want them to be totally committed in thinking and actions, as well as creative, in meeting the needs of the targeted customer.
4. Clearly set expectations and provide regular feedback. Communicate expectations early and often, both written and one-on-one. Then schedule weekly two-way feedback sessions on progress, productivity, and customer issues. Team members need to know what is important to the business, and you need to understand their needs and concerns.
5. Set the bar high but celebrate every milestone achieved. Focus on stretch results from the start, and show appreciation for every milestone achieved, no matter how small. Don’t forget that every team is made up of individuals, so give personal credit in front of peers to keep morale high. Push team members to take risks and test out new ideas.
6. Team members must be willing to look outside the box. This means actively listening to opposing perspectives and even engaging in healthy disagreements. It also means not ignoring or backing away from difficult challenges and looking to other industries or businesses for innovative solutions. I recommend seeking diversity and opposing views.
7. Make your team self-managing on people issues. Teams that work together well are able to measure their own performance, and deal directly with low contributors and poor fits to the culture. Each must accept some responsibility for training, coaching, and mentoring team members, as well as making recommendations on personnel needs.
I realize that some of these principles are contrary to the way that most small and large businesses manage teams today, with their primary focus on lowest apparent cost, flexibility in managing workload changes, minimal contention, and reliance on skill depth and past experiences. Results and success are measured against initial objectives, with minimal changes.
In my view, building and managing the right teams is an investment that not only enhances the quality of your product and the total customer experience, but also can quickly become your competitive advantage. I also find it very difficult to re-vitalize or rebuild an established team, as opposed to doing it right from the beginning.
Most people are also finding that this new generation of workers needs a collaborative culture with real communication and relationships to stay fully engaged, especially when in a hybrid environment. Your career satisfaction and the future successes of your business also depend on it.