Building the Winning Team

So you want to start a new company and market new technology. You know you can’t jumpstart this by yourself. You need an ignition system and some viable spark plugs to drive this new enterprise. You have already determined that this new technology can satisfy a need, selling your product or products will make a huge profit, investors will be interested. All this is ascertained because you have been made aware that the business you want to start is in a field where existing businesses have already shown that money can be made.

Again, you cannot do it by yourself. You do need a good executive team. It will be the biggest and most important primary investment you will make. Your greatest asset will be this intellectual property, a well functioning executive team. Potential investors will want to know about your team, they will see the face of your business distinctly outlined by the composite face of your executive team, no matter what business model you choose. Be careful in the beginning about the size of your team. According to your management model, and what your exact mission is, you may find you can get by with a few good people, doubling up when possible on their responsibilities. I mention this in view of the following obvious obstacles.

The Obstacles

There are definite obstacles for you in finding/building a good team. A start-up venture always suffers the challenge of using limited start-up capital to recruit proven, experienced management executives from other successful companies. Most of the time you cannot lure established professionals without the ability to offer better pay or benefit incentives. So forget that approach unless you already own some gold mines or someone from long ago owes you a favor.

Even if you do have luck and capture some experienced and proven managers, there is also the problem of getting professional managers from other companies on board with your particular vision. You probably cannot provide the training right now for those professional managers that have no experience in your particular field. It is not always possible to plug in a manager from another company into a different wired endeavor. Also, you may have confidence in your vision, your product or products, but to be successful, your team must be as inspired and motivated as you are.

Another obstacle to building an executive team is the difficulty of finding team members who can balance the vision creatively with the everyday nuts and bolts of the operation. So, you must understand that even though you might find those who share your vision, their real value to you will be in their common sense attitude toward creating a work plan and a work force that are viable toward what you want to accomplish.

It may be that you are so confident that your new company will grow so quickly that you will not read any more advice such as what you are perusing now and decide on professional help. Professional recruiting firms are quite expensive. So you are up against the wall again. Sum up the obvious obstacles. The best players you need on your team are already on a team and you can’t buy them. They may not even be the best for you anyway, may not grasp your vision, even if you could get them aboard for your venture. Other challenges are the follow-up actions you take after you have a team in place. How to you maintain the vision you’ve shared with your team. Will you be able to give the necessary training for a new executive team in a new company, without sacrificing time that must be spent on product development and sales? You’ve got your work cut out for you. But don’t lose heart. Stay with me for a moment. Maybe you can go around the hurdles instead of trying to go over them.

Solutions

If your start-up funds are limited, and they probably are, you might need to hire a relatively new start-up recruiting firm, one in the same predicament as you are, one eager for companies such as yours to help make successful, so that their own credibility as a good recruiting firm might be established. Be honest with the firm. Tell them you are not able to afford top ranked, proven professionals. Then ask them to look for younger junior executives, or even skilled and knowledgeable workers at other companies who might have been overlooked as potential top managers. Another company’s oversight in employee potential might be your gain.

Also don’t forget the bright fresh college graduates who will work for less when starting their careers. Ask the colleges to send them to you for an interview. If you offer all these marginal candidates mentioned above, shares in the business, as an honest and encouraging incentive as you sell your vision well from the very start, they may take initial pay cuts to help you grow, thus increasing the value of their stock. This is one of several ways proven ways to boot strap a venture that you really have faith in. Remind yourself that money is always the best motivator and this financial incentive does not necessarily have to be paid at the start, but can be convincingly offered as future possibility. Any beginning enterprise has only its beginning capital, it’s intellectually property and its vision. Interview your prospective team members well, completely have a grasp of their potential, then offer them good rewards for their work.

Again, the best strategy is to take the people whom you can obtain, analyze their strengths and build on those strengths. An example: look for a person who has shown prowess in sales and recruit him/her as your vice president of sales; look for someone who has shown exceptional skills in a small but diversified bank and recruit him or her as your financial officer. Let’s face it, most all great companies start with inexperienced staff. Good managers have to start somewhere, why not in your company. In other words, don’t take risks by radically going outside the box, just look in the box, take what’s there and assess the strengths of those you find, share your vision and go forth.

Remember this. Just like your start-up company, your start-up executive team is a work in progress. You are going to need to shift, cross train and even edit your staff as you realize their potential. Your own management skills will need to come into play here. You have a dream. You’re ready to operate. Take some classes to hone up your leadership skills that might have atrophied over the years. Don’t manage your team so much by giving advice, always saying that this is the way you use to do it. Manage by telling your new people that you have just acquired in them a great reservoir of undeveloped talent. Present them with the tasks at hands, tell them you want a team and not heroes, then sit back at watch the natural social interaction of people who respect you, who know that they are believed in. They will go to work and make things happen for you. Study football coaches who have been successful in taking what they have been given to build a winning team. Remember, your best work is that of drawing out the best in others.

Be patient with your team. Treat them with respect. Always be very clear as you communicate mission and vision. Ask them to take time out to contemplate the future of the company, insuring them that their future success is a part of company success. And know this. Older, experienced managers are not always the best for a new company. You usually can’t teach them anything new.

Another tactic that has proven beneficial as we concentrate on the importance of teamwork is that of taking your team somewhere where off from your company setting for training in tackling obstacles. Encourage the team to not see this as ridiculous, some might, but as a vital ingredient for the success of the company. All have different talents and gifts, and when they learn to depend on each other for conquering physical obstacles, you can depend on them to solve human resource problems in your company.

Good luck on selecting your executive team. It actually may not be luck. Good common sense can still work wonders. Management models are always evolving. If you are open to change, and your new executive team is also, you find yourself on the forefront of your business niche. Always support your executive team as you grow and reach new levels of success. There will be even newer company leaders to come alone and try to capture your team’s members as they envy your success. Competition compels us to develop and take care of what we have. You can believe in your team only after they believe in each other’s and your leadership.