Hi there,
Well today I have nothing to write about the undone tasks. How ever I can dedicate more time and write my fresh and a bit drunk (we didn`t drink much during our team meeting) thoughts related with the team. As you may understand from the name, I am writing about the openness in the team.
Quite often when I am speaking with my friends I hear them in different words saying, that they would like to say something to their bosses. Something specific and bad. How ever they don`t say it. Or say before quiting the job. In one hand it helps to decrease the tension among the team members. For a while, in another hand it delays the problem. And the further you delay the problem – the bigger it gets.
So for the startup it is a crucial need for cofounders to be open. To be able to tell if someone doesn`t have enough money for the needed marketing actions to take. To tell that he is not able during the next month to dedicate even one full day for the startup. To tell that the current plan sucks and that it needs to be reviewed.. You name it.
And if you are not comfortable with being open with your cofounders – you are with the wrong people. If people are not comfortable with you – you are doing something wrong. You are not close with them enough. And you will fail.
Why failure is so close? Well if the core team is not speaking to each other openly, the team is reacting to the treats slow. Slow reaction means that the other team will do better. And will overgrow over hypothetical startup.
How to overcome yourself and start being open? Dedicate a month or two for getting to know your cofounders if you have built a new team. Afterwards if you are not comfortable with being open – change team members. If you think it is you – try thinking in a way that “if I am not open, my team will not know about my weaknesses and will not be able to know how to back up me. No back up – I am the weakest part and I should leave. If I don`t want to leave – I must change.
I know how do you feel – I went through it myself back in some years. How ever I became open to my team. I am not sharing my passwords, but I am sharing:
- what matters to me,
- why I am doing what I am doing,
- what I dislike,
- what I am working for.
And believe me, this works not only in startups, but in any business you do with a team.
