The world is awash with business books from startup through to scale-up and beyond. And, there are plenty of resources when it comes to building a team culture that fits the purpose of the business. But one thing that is often missing is the role of founder - as employee number 1 you often take on all roles in the business and then start to build out the team.
As a startup, there's an optimism that inspires you to take that leap of faith to start the business and inevitably at some point there'll be a challenge or roadblock that you'll face where you'll draw on the original vision for the business to push you through. And in most instances, that what drives you. The original vision you had for the business and your belief in acheiving it.
As the team starts to scale out, it's easy to identify people who "get it" and often you can draw on their energy to amplify your momentum towards your goal. Things get harder obviously as recruitment decisions move beyond your desk and the influence you have on the day to day workings of each team member is diluted.
Effective teams and businesses have management systems and processes in place to ensure that you can align around daily, weekly, monthly and annual goals but things will go wrong.
[At Starward we....]
As a founder, you have to trust your recruitment practices and your team. You're there to enable them to operate in a fashion to solve the challenges - not solve them. Your experience and insight is valuable obviously in finding solutions. But amongst providing counsel and support, the most important role you play is to ensure the team is aligned to the vision, and that belief in that vision and the team to achieve great things is unwavering. In essence your primary role is that of Chief Optimist.
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