7 Ways to Build a Focused Team

This post originally appeared in Inc.

Buzzing about which new startups will prosper and which will flop is a favorite pastime in Silicon Valley. But a new company's prospects aren't based on just what the company creates, says Stanford professor Lindred Greer. They're also based on the people creating it and, more important, how they treat one another. 

"Startup success is as much about managing the people as it is about creating the product," says Greer, an organizational behavior professor at Stanford Graduate School of Business. Based on her research on entrepreneurship and team dynamics, Greer will teach a new course at Stanford GSB this spring focusing on the unique team-dynamic challenges faced by early-stage startups. In a recent interview, she offered tips for managing startup teams.

Be Aware of Culture in Early Stage Startups

The culture of early stage startups forms the backbone of the culture the company will have in later years. Therefore, paying attention early on to the type of culture you want to create is critical.

One aspect of startup culture, Greer notes, is the emphasis the founders put on equality. While egalitarian cultures can motivate workers and encourage a free flow of ideas, they are often hard to maintain when companies scale and managers have to make hard decisions that go against the grain of the egalitarian ethos.

"The first time someone has to be fired, the culture of equality may be shattered," Greer says.

In order to preserve this culture as they grow, startups must find ways early on to balance the need to motivate workers and give them a voice with competing organizational needs for structure and hierarchy, she says.

To illustrate this point, Greer offers an analogy about the fateful day a child discovers that Santa Claus is not real. There is no changing that reality. But, says Greer, a parent has a choice between saying "Tough luck -- Santa doesn't exist" and "I'm sorry the man in the red suit doesn't exist, but the holiday spirit does."

Likewise, a founder can say, "Tough luck. I can fire whomever I want." Or, she can find a more respectful way to communicate this to the remaining employees and preserve the spirit of equality while maintaining her position at the top of the organizational hierarchy.

Keep It Professional

Resolving conflicts at startups can be more difficult than at other types of companies, Greer says, because founding members are often friends. Conflicts may be more personal and intense. Likewise, it may be difficult to keep communication and interpersonal dynamics focused solely on work-related matters. Greer recommends that startup teams designate a time and place in the office where people can talk through work issues in a professional frame of mind, "consciously choosing to set aside personal bonds."

Stay Humble

Founders who maintain a humble management style and share credit for successes will empower others. "If you ask for voice and opinions, show that you actually do something with it," Greer says. A founder who blindly pursues his vision without feedback from others can lead the company into disaster.

Ice Cream Helps

Leaders who actively value team contributions tend to make themselves easily accessible to their subordinates. For example, Greer interviewed one CEO who created a self-serve ice cream area at his company to promote more frequent and spontaneous communication between management and employees.

Avoid Overlapping Skill Sets

Entrepreneurs often form companies with friends or classmates with whom they share interests, skills and personality traits. But ignoring the need for true complementarity "is the number one mistake startups make, at least in the early phases," Greer says. Maintaining a high-performing startup is possible only when teams have complementary skill sets without much overlap. If everyone is, say, a finance expert, who will run operations?

Provide Clarity

Ideally, each member of the team brings his or her own unique and needed contribution to the success of the enterprise, but managers also need to provide guidance to teams. To avoid unnecessary confusion and competition, leaders should clearly delineate who is responsible for which tasks.

Greer is testing this concept at the Atlanta Tech Village, a startup incubator in Georgia's capital. Working with a group of several founding startup teams, she advised half to clearly identify each member's unique specific role in a forthcoming task. Then she asked all the groups to build towers using marshmallows and sticks of spaghetti. The teams that received an intervention about establishing clear roles, she discovered, built more stable towers. She is now tracking the groups' actual business performance over the next two months to see if it reflects the same results.

Ask Outsiders for Help

Company founders who surround themselves with a team of experts will help ensure there is a culture of respect for employees. Doing so sheds light on how companies such as Apple and Google have succeeded despite more autocratic-leaning founders. "Those people were counterbalanced by very strong peers at the management team level that complemented their personalities and helped them lead more effectively."

3 Questions to Ask Yourself Before Diving Into Becoming an Entrepreneur

This post originally appeared in Inc.

The pursuit of an entrepreneurial venture feels a lot like jumping off a high cliff into deep water.

It's scary at first and there's no going back once you leap, but after you muster up the courage, it is one of life's most exhilarating experiences.

Before you hastily rush into a triple backflip dive, it is best to do some homework and prepare. Is the water deep enough to attempt a safe dive? Has anyone jumped from this point before (and survived)? After I jump, is there a way for me to get back to land safely? Is getting hurt worth the risk?

Entrepreneurship is no different. Success is about more than just quitting your job and leaping head over heels into your venture. You first have to do your homework.

It's hard to define the right time to begin a new endeavor, and the reality is no time is ever going to be perfect. But before you take the plunge, here are three questions to consider.

1) Are you personally attached?

When I started my latest company Porch.com, I was out to solve a personal problem I was having myself--finding a great professional to work on my family's home. I experienced first hand the frustration and pain so many homeowners feel. My personal connection to this problem has been one of the major motivating factors in building the business to where it is today.

Deeply caring about what you are working to solve keeps you working late into the night and through the inevitable rollercoaster ride that is the startup journey. Without a personal connection, it's just too easy to give up when times get tough.

2) Do you have a competitive advantage?

When Russell Wilson, quarterback for my beloved hometown team the Seattle Seahawks, was drafted, he didn't fit the mold of what you would assume would be an all-pro quarterback. But Wilson proved that he had other competitive advantages. What he lacked in height, he made up for in competitiveness, leadership, accuracy, and speed. His unique abilities was part of what sparked the Seahawks recent success.

Business is the same--to win, you as the quarterback of your team, must have a unique skill set that creates a competitive advantage. There will always be competition in a market or space and will almost certainly bring others with the same idea as yours. Thus, to win, you have to be different. Maybe you have a unique set of skills or are especially gifted at bringing together an amazing team, or have the network to be able to make your company take off. Whatever it is, you should align your business strategy to your unique gifts in order to give you the best chance of winning.

3) What do you want and what are you willing to sacrifice to get it?

Sometimes you have to first come to grips with what you are willing to sacrifice. Fully pursuing your business forces you to look closely at your priorities and decide where you want to spend your time and energy. Building a company requires tremendous cost and sacrifice. I believe no CEO can ask their team to give more than they are willing to give themselves and thus if you want to have a high-functioning team, you will need to set the bar.

Be conscious when you take that leap--don't slip and find yourself falling. Be informed, be conscious, and when you are ready--jump.

A Consultant’s Guide to Firing a Client

View image | gettyimages.com

This post originally appeared in HBR.

We all have limited time, and despite our best efforts at triage, email and meetings will probably always remain low-grade annoyances. But if you want to dramatically enhance your productivity, it pays to zero in on the biggest source of stress and wasted time: problematic clients.

Some entrepreneurs and executives fight to hold onto business at all costs, recognizing that it’s easier to retain a customer than to win a new one. That’s true, but many business leaders are loath to fire clients, even when it’s the right move. I’ve been a consultant for the past nine years, and my client list today looks dramatically different than it did when I launched, in large part because of strategic decisions I made to let some clients go and take on others. Here’s how to recognize when it’s time for your business relationship to end.

When you’re doing work you no longer want to do. In the early days of your business, almost any contract feels like a win. You may be willing to accept assignments outside your sweet spot. PR? Board development? Strategic planning? Sure, why not? But over time, you learn where you excel, and where you’d like to focus. In the early days of my consulting business, I worked with a prominent education nonprofit, helping them with communication projects, from messaging to media outreach. But over time, I became less interested in the tactical – calling up reporters to come to press conferences – and more interested in media and marketing strategy. They still needed the former, but I just couldn’t bring myself to do it anymore. If you have “legacy assignments” that no longer appeal or that don’t make strategic sense for your business, you’re better off referring them to someone else who’s eager for the work instead of doing a half-hearted job out of a misguided sense of loyalty or because you want the money.

When your client wastes your time. It’d be nice if everyone focused on results, not face time – but sadly, that’s not the case. (Even Best Buy, the originator of the innovative “Results Only Work Environment” program, later rescinded it.) There’s something to be said for small talk and “getting to know you” conversations (famed psychologist Robert Cialdini says neglecting these forms of relationship-building is one of the top mistakes that American professionals make). But if your clients push this too far, they’re taking money out of your pocket. I once had a consulting client who insisted that I attend her weekly staff meetings. It was a relatively lucrative contract, so I agreed; I assumed we’d be discussing strategic issues that were relevant to my work. Instead, I quickly discovered that everyone went around the table discussing everything they’d done the previous week, and everything they were going to do for the coming week. I knew more about their comings-and-goings than I did about my friends, family, or neighbors. When I spoke to the managing director and suggested my time could be better deployed elsewhere, she put her foot down: “You’re our consultant, and we want you at that meeting.” I continued to attend, but only until my initial contract ran out. If the client doesn’t respect your time, or your judgment about how best to help them, they’re treating you like a lackey.

When you’re locked into low fees. You may be working with a great client doing interesting projects, but if you’ve been collaborating for a while and have gained experience in the interim, you may have outgrown your existing fee structure. When I started as a consultant, I knew precious little about pricing; I’d guess wildly with scarce information to base things on besides my previous experience as a salaried employee. As I gained experience, I realized I’d been underpricing – but clients grow accustomed to having you at a certain rate and may be unwilling to accept new fees. As you learn more and grow your brand, you may need to move upmarket and work with a different set of clients who don’t blink at what you’re worth.

When your client is never satisfied. If you find your clients growing increasingly demanding, it’s worth a conversation. They might have unspoken expectations that you’re not meeting (because you don’t know they exist). It might be something easy to address, in which case you’ve spared yourself a potential rift. But equally important, you may discover that their desires are downright unrealistic. The same client who insisted I attend their staff meetings had enjoyed a years-long media bonanza prior to my work with them; a prominent newspaper editorialist was a huge fan of their work, and wrote about them regularly. She retired a month before I started my consulting contract, leaving a barren landscape of newspaper coverage…for which I was blamed. Until I succeeded in replicating the frequent media panegyrics that they’d previous enjoyed, they wouldn’t be satisfied. And that was never going to happen.

Firing a client is a difficult decision. But it doesn’t have to be awkward or contentious the way that firing an employee often is. For one thing, an employee generally expects ongoing employment, while you most likely have a fixed contract with your client (to deliver 50 airplanes, or create a marketing strategy, or provide six months of executive coaching). 

Unless your relationship has become toxic, it’s best to hang tough until your contract is up for renewal, and then gently explain to the client – who might be thinking the same thing – that this is the perfect point to wind down your engagement. If they require future assistance, you can recommend some good options – that aren’t you. After all, to make room for better, more strategic, and more lucrative clients, you have to be willing to let go of the ones that are holding you back.

Measure

Measure

How to Think Differently

View image | gettyimages.com

This article originally appeared in Inc.com

If you spend even 10 minutes watching the talking heads on cable, or reading the op-eds on Sunday in your favorite paper, you realize those well-dressed people on television and commentators in the newspaper go to incredible length to try to "prove" every argument made before theirs was wrong.

That's just dumb.

You know why people attack everything that has come before. We live in a hyper-competitive environment when it comes to getting someone's attention, and so if you have something new, you may feel compelled to come up with a gimmick such as "everything you know is wrong" in order to get people to notice what you have to say.

Well, let me try to get your attention a different way.

I want to present you with a proven approach to dealing with uncertainty in all forms, i.e. what you should do when you don't know what to do.

I know it works because it is the same approach that the people who are masters at dealing with uncertainty--serial entrepreneurs--use. (There is nothing more uncertain than starting a business, and serial entrepreneurs, people who have started two or more successful companies, are masters at it.)

As you know, the clichd image of entrepreneurs coming up with an idea, laboring feverishly to perfect it, and delivering their creation to the market fully-formed is not what usually happens.

But, you may not be as clear about what actually does occurs.

Here's the typical path that I have noticed after studying these folks for more than 30 years.

The best entrepreneurs come up with an idea. They take a small step toward implementation to see if anyone is interested, and if it looks like some people are, they take another step forward.

If they don't get the reaction they want, they regroup and then take another step in a different direction.

In other words, they:

Learn (from that action) and

Build (off that learning) and

Repeat, i.e. they act again.

That cycle continues until the entrepreneur succeeds, knows she is not going to, or decides there is another, more appealing opportunity to pursue.

The approach serial entrepreneurs use when faced with the unknown (starting a business) will work for you when you face the unknown of any kind.

So, does this mean you should scrap your traditional ways of problem solving?

Absolutely not.

You shouldn't use this Act Learn Build Repeat approach exclusively. The way we all were taught to solve problems that are predictable--how do we introduce our existing product into an adjacent market; how many widgets will we sell during a recession--works just fine. You have historical precedents and data to draw on.

When you do, predict away.

When you don't, try the Act Learn Build approach. It gives you an additional tool. It does not replace the ones you have.

We concede presenting a new idea this way is far less dramatic than screaming "EVERYTHING YOU KNOW IS WRONG."

But it is honest, the process has been proven, and it should be helpful.

Stop Playing the Victim with Your Time

This post originally appeared in HBR

"It’s just not fair. There’s always too much to do. Everyone just keeps piling more work on me. I feel so helpless."

Sound familiar? If so, you’re not alone. Many people feel like they have a crushing number of requests coming at them from every side that make them a victim to their circumstances. They see forces outside themselves as the reason that they don’t have time to exercise, can’t leave work at a reasonable time, or just generally struggle to get everything done. Although there are occasionally situations that are outside of your control — that recent bout with the flu, for example — most aren’t. And even though it can feel gratifying in the short term to blame others for your situation, this attitude toward your time investmentwill leave you truly powerless in the long run.

When you play the victim with your time, everything around you suffers. You’re constantly on edge in your interactions with others because you fear that they’ll pile yet one more thing on your already heavy load. Since you don’t believe you can ever say, “no,” your “yes” comes out of a place of obligation and resentment, not wholehearted commitment. Since your situation seems so difficult, you don’t attempt to plan or work more efficiently because you believe that you will have to work all the time no matter what and are convinced that it’s impossible to get everything done. You eventually stop trying because you believe no matter how hard you try — you’ll fail.

In my work as a time coach, I’ve seen that individuals often have a much greater ability to influence their situation than they realize. But the breakthrough only happens when they start exerting their personal power instead of waiting for something around them to change. It’s similar to when people who find themselves in debt blame the credit card companies, instead of accepting that they had a choice in spending more money than they had. Only by accepting that they can — and need — to change and then taking steps to do so can that balance go down.

The way to break out of this victim mind-set is to stop blaming others, and instead, take ownership of your time and take responsibility for changing yourself. Here are three practical steps to take back control of your time:

Observe your reaction. Become aware of how you respond when your time investment becomes misaligned with your priorities. Do you always look for someone to blame? My boss always gives me too much to do. Do you pity yourself?Poor me, yet another stressful day. I’ll get some ice cream to make myself feel better.Do you reject advice or suggestions? How dare my wife suggest I could work differently to get home earlier. That’s just not possible. Do you ever say no to a new project? Do you ever set boundaries? Do you ever ask for support?

Recognize your role. Understand that you are the decision maker when it comes to investing your time. There are certain situations where you simply need to do what it takes to get things done for a short time. That could be when you’re approaching a major deadline, preparing for a new product launch, or drafting annual reports. But overload doesn’t need to be the norm. It’s not everyone else’s fault if you have too much to do and you don’t communicate that to anyone else. It’s yours.

Even in top consulting firms known for their rigorous work schedules, there’s room for open communication about time. For example, Boston Consulting Group established a formal global program called PTO (Predictability, Teaming, and Open Communication), which helps establish priorities and time-off goals for each team member. One component of this program is for team members to work together so that each one of them can have a period of time each week when they’re completely off the project. To help make this happen, the teams have weekly check-ins that include talking about how they’re feeling and the value they’re delivering to clients. Each person recognizes their role to openly and honestly communicate about their needs, instead of expecting others to automatically know when they’re overloaded. You must take on the same responsibility in your own organization with regards to your own time, even if you don’t have a formal program encouraging you to do so.

Commit to self-mastery. Regardless of how you’ve behaved in the past in certain situations or with specific people, you have the opportunity to make the future different. Make a commitment to change; choose to respond your environment instead of simply accepting whatever comes your way.

Instead of becoming a victim, take ownership of the situation and your time. This could look like speaking up when you feel that someone makes an unreasonable request so that you don’t end up overloaded. Have your project list on hand when you go to meetings so that if a new project is proposed, you can evaluate its importance in relation to your other commitments. If it doesn’t seem like there’s sufficient time for the new work, propose a discussion about priorities during the meeting or bring it up later with the appropriate parties.

Also, set clear rules and boundaries to prevent taking on too much from others. For example, if you manage staff members who tend to turn in work at the last minute with many errors, require that they turn in items earlier. That allows you to send it back to them to make corrections instead of doing them yourself because you’re on a tight deadline.

Finally, if you’re in a situation where setting better boundaries isn’t possible (such as a job where you’re on call 24/7) and you’re finding your time investment troubles unmanageable, you may need to consider whether you’re in the right job. There are some positions that will not create a sustainable lifestyle for you no matter what you try to do. It’s OK to decide to get out.

By taking responsibility for your time investment choices, you stop wasting energy blaming others and start directing it toward a productive response toward the people and situations around you. With that focus, you can have enough time for what’s most important to you.

How to Answer "Why Do You Want to Work at This Company?"

Good read from a Lifehacker article.

When you're preparing for an interview, there are a few questions that you absolutely must know how to answer (like "tell me about yourself") because they're common and will guide most of the interview. But "why this company?" might be the trickiest, because it's not about you.

This post originally appeared on The Muse.

So, how do you approach this super-common interview question without leaning on your resume and without sounding like every other candidate who goes on about how excited he or she is to work for a company that "values transparency" and has a "great company culture?" To help you get started, here are four angles to consider.

1. Acknowledge the Company's Uniqueness

The key to answering this question well is being specific. If you can give the same answer to another company, then you're clearly not being detailed enough. In other words, your answer should be unique to each place you interview with—no general statements about "working with talented people" or "global impact."

If you want to go the culture route, talk about the precise aspects of it that you like. Don't just touch on how driven everyone seems; instead, mention how you thrive in an environment that focuses on goals and that the team's tradition of setting weekly goals instead of annual goals is appealing. Or, if you like how the company shakes things up every once in a while, go a step further and talk about the company-wide hack day. This is the perfect chance to show off that you actually did some research.

2. Go Back to the Beginning

Showing that you know a lot about the company is always impressive, but sometimes it's not always possible. If finding out more about the place turns out to be more challenging than expected, try telling the story of how you first heard about it. Don't get too long-winded, of course. Your goal is here is to show that you were aware of and interested in the company before you even had the opportunity to apply.

One way to do this is to share the evolution of the company you're applying for. Talk about how you've watched it grow, change, and adapt with interest. Being able to comment with insight about a brand's history is certainly a good way to show that your interest in it didn't develop overnight.

3. Think About the Company's Future (and Your Role in It)

Besides diving into the history, also consider thinking ahead a little bit. Being able to talk about what areas of the company you think have opportunities for growth and showing your excitement about contributing to that growth is an excellent way to approach this question.

This forward thinking shows that not only are you invested enough to think thoughtfully about the future of the company, you have some ideas about how to continue driving its continued success. It's a great way of illustrating your knowledge and commitment in a way that goes beyond what you can find doing research online. You've actually thought about the future of the company critically and want to play a role in it.

4. Offer a Personal Touch

If all else fails, you can always count on this working: Get personal. It can be hard to talk about what makes a company special as an outsider, but one thing you can count on being unique is the people. Maybe you have a friend who works at the company. You can talk about how impressed you are with what her experience has been like—just remember to be specific.

And even if you don't have an internal contact, simply being invited to the interview means you've interacted with some employees. Talk about a personal interaction with the people of the company and how they've made you feel welcomed or how you're excited to see such enthusiasm in the team members you've spoken with so far. If all else fails, always bring it back to the people.

There's no 100% right way to answer this question, so get creative in how you want to illustrate your interest in the company. As long as you don't start going into a string of platitudes, you'll be fine.