Every great leader surrounds themselves with a capable team. Describe your interaction with your staff and the skill sets you look for when adding someone to your team.
Finding folks who have bought into the greater vision of what we are looking to accomplish is essential. When you’re adding people to your team, it’s very important they understand your vision and that they are on board for it. Those who want to take a different direction or who disagree can derail any momentum you have as an organization. The individual team members should complement and align with what you’re trying to accomplish. Having folks on board who are independently efficient and don’t need a lot of exterior support to get things done, really makes a strong team. Having a handful of independent team members is better than a dozen who need constant support for every task or decision that needs to be made.
It's also important to get folks on board who are gritty and appreciate the grind of being part of a startup. If your team isn’t built for that early phase of grinding, you’ll deal with a lot of issues trying to get off the ground. If you aspire to grow, innovators who push the work forward and think outside of the box are necessary to achieving that next level of success.
I think my interaction with our team is great. I always try to treat staff as an extended family. We spend so much time with coworkers, so those relationships are mission critical.
Treating them like you treat any important relationship and be invested in getting to know the people on your team. Look to enrich your team members and help them grow within what you’re trying to build.
Going back to my core philosophy of leading with love, it helps the team to know we are all in this together. The people who work with me know I’m
there and have no qualms about getting my hands dirty. I’ll change the lightbulb, mop the floor, and do whatever needs to be done.