First-Time Leader: Foundational Tools for Inspiring and Enabling Your New Team

CHAPTER 10

LEAD TEAMS OF 10 TO 20 LIKE AN EXTENDED FAMILY

Once the team grows beyond the nuclear family of everyone reporting to one leader, the nature of how the team works changes. During this phase, attitude starts to become more important. Get the strategy set, deciding at what you are going to be best in the world, and use that as your guide for how to grow the team and which capabilities to add first. With teams of 10 to 30 people or so, you’ll still know everyone and can treat them like extended family. Even so, this is the time to implement rudimentary people-management and operating practices.

All this assumes that the team has already made its where to play choices and has values in place. If so, confirm those choices. If that’s not true, start by figuring out whose problem you’re going to solve and get the team aligned around where to play.

WHAT MATTERS

The next big question is what matters. Get everyone aligned around the mission and a vision using the tools from Chapter 5.

HOW TO WIN

The critical choice for a team of this size is how to win. Get your strategy and posture set and get your basic culture codified.

MANAGING THE EVOLUTION OF YOUR START-UP’S CORPORATE CULTURE1

By the time most organizations start thinking about corporate culture, they already have one. Rick Rudman, cofounder and CEO of cloud marketing software provider Vocus, is unashamedly open that he and his cofounders did not plan their culture. It emerged. But, as it emerged, they made conscious choices ...