Build A Start-up Team

How to Build A Winning Start-up Team?

You’ve been assigned to build a start-up team. Big job ahead but exciting too! You get to choose your team and make it happen. Here are some thoughts of what to look out for:

1. Build a diverse team

A big percentage of start-ups fail as they pick the wrong people for their team. A huge mistake is to hire people based on who you like because they are like you.

A better way to hire is to make a list of roles that you need covered, to build a start-up team then recruit based on skills and knowledge that a person has.

You may find that as you create the start-up team structure before defining roles, that some of the team you hire will have to be completely opposite to you.

These maybe people who might become a pain in your side however if they are doing their job well and playing the critic or the realist, they might be the ones who save the team.

So the start-up team roles need to define a typical personality profile of each team member which would require some assistance from Human Resources.

2. Solidify YOU!

You have obviously been chosen to build a start-up team because you have the aptitude, skills and knowledge to do so. However there are always gaps in new roles and it would augur well for you to source an Neuro Linguistic Programming - NLP course.

Why? Because that deep dives into aligning your values and beliefs, to solidify your identity. You would also learn leadership and coaching tools to help you with managing the team and designing a strategic focus going forward.

To build a start-up team it is also imperative that you sharpen your conflict management skills as there is usually some butt-heading in early days, since everything is fluid and nothing is set in concrete.

This is why a start-up team structure is so important. Getting it right upfront serves to save you a lot of time in later years.

3. Hire people who make it happen

It takes a specific mindset to make things happen. A start-up team structure has to pre-suppose that the people hired will make things happen.

It is an uphill climb in early days so you need people who have resilience and perseverance to stick it out in their respective start-up team roles.

At the core of an NLP course is the concept of state management. Managing your state and the state of others is a key skill to possess. Like tuning your mind and body to a certain channel on your radio, you too could learn the art of tuning in to your different states of mind.

Ask for examples of why the person thinks they will be able to withstand the pressure of working in a start-up team structure so you are aware of the depth to which the person can go.

4. Communication is the golden key

• No matter how hard the terrain, if you as the leader of the pack is able to open communication and encourage transparency, you could pre-empt people in their start-up team roles before conflict situations arise and do de-briefs after the event has passed.
• Acknowledging that two members of the team operate at opposite ends of the pole, will be excellent recognition for the team. They will feel reinforced by your observation power and attention to their personality preferences and hence their needs.
• These are skills that are taught in an NLP course. How to use the language of influence and learn the art of questioning. Also to heighten your sensory acuity in picking up the non-verbal signals – what is not being said.
  
  It would propel your start-up team structure to amazing heights if your entire team was trained at an NLP course. Giving your team members the opportunity to seek clarity and make decisions well, would be a great investment in terms of time and money, to forge ahead with agility.
• In many organisations I worked in, I found that cascading communication down the line so people are informed of latest news is also fundamental to installing trust in the system.
• To build a start-up team well, it would be great if you did have the option to create the Vision, Mission and Values together. This just serves to anchor the start-up team structure more and attach strength to the entire purpose.
• Creating a feedback loop culture where team members are comfortable to give feedback is fundamental to having open, healthy relationships between colleagues. It creates a light team culture where humour is encouraged to diffuse an otherwise tense context.

To summarise, a not-so-easy task can be worked around if the right ingredients of passion and vision are securely stuck in the ground. Creating pillars of success as detailed above, to build a start-up team is fundamental to achieving what you set out to do.

Sylvia Fernandes is the Founder & CEO of VIA Frontiers. She is a Master Trainer of NLP who is specialised in corporate applications. She started her business in Sydney in 2002 and has been operating in the Asia Pacific Region ever since. She is currently based in Singapore. She is also the author of Bye Bye Black Cat -- Turn Your Luck Around and Realise Opportunities. Visit VIA Frontiers for more information.