It’s the people stupid, part II.
December 13, 2008 by Joseph Ansanelli
Filed under Startups, Teams
Thanks for all the feedback and emails about my last post It’s the people, stupid. One theme of the feedback was basically, “Thanks, stupid. Of course we know hiring great people is important. Now can we have something other than apple pie?”
I agree that the tough question is, “HOW to build a great team?”
Since that is a big topic, the next couple of posts, in no particular order, will tackle a couple of key parts of that question.
In building a great team, I suggest you start by asking if you (and the rest of the team!) can answer the question about what kind of team you are trying to build?
This is often referred to as culture. In my view, without knowing what kind of team you want, you can never get there. Culture matters because great companies have cultures that are a key part of their success. By deciding up front for what kind of culture you are striving, then you can hire and train for that type of culture. Without this, at best, you will end up with a team of great individual contributors that might not work well together. At worst, well, you may fail.
Think about Southwest Airlines. They have a distinct culture that is part of their success. Google does too. As does Amazon.com, Oracle, Starbucks, REI, and even my local bike shop. The key is not necessarily what culture, as many will work, but simply that you decide what kind you need to be successful, and you build a team that embodies that culture.
I am not saying culture is more important than a specific job competence, but without a cohesive team, long term success is hard if not impossible. Competence is typically thought of as figuring out if someone is smart, do they have the background and skills to do the job such as communicate, program, sell, etc.
But what if we start thinking about culture as a competence?
In her book, The Southwest Airlines Way
So, as a first thought about how to build a great team, figure out what are the relational competencies you need aka culture, make sure the team understands them, and start recruiting a group that demonstrates them. Having this will make a difference in everything you do – from recruiting new people to making products to having successful customers and relationships and probably having fun too.
The next posts will cover questions about recruiting other competencies, engaging the team, and the dreaded question of firing people.
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agree completely that a killer culture, in both large and small companies is tremendously important. Both in terms of how the employees perceive themselves and think about success (successful decisions, meetings, personal interactions in the offices, exchanges with partners, and more), and in terms of how the outside world (prospective employees, partners, press, competitors) see the company. It often sets the first impression, and is in some sense the character, personality, and real soul of the company. As with all of us as individuals, it’s great to be “smart” and we certainly value that … though i think many of us probably value all of the non-tangibles/measurables that make up our personality — in a company, a piece of that is ‘smarts’ (functional competence), and a big piece of that is character, personality, style (the culture). Obviously culture and functional competence have to hang together — both are necessary, not clear either is sufficient.
That’s all a long way of saying I agree!!
Should also say, however, that hiring for cultural fit or “relational competence” is very hard and can be very time consuming. It is a place where it can be easier to make a bad hire (as opposed to functional competence).
I’ve realized that many managers expect their employees to work within a specific culture, even when they have not hired that culture. So, in several offices we have had smart, creative people trying to do their own best work, but constantly getting stymied since there was a conflict of goals, vision, culture, etc.. with management.
Maybe firing is the right answer here? But sometimes I think the right answer is to adjust the direction of the company, and let the culture evolve. Probably it depends on how strong and effective the leadership and vision were to begin with.
The take-away for me is: Companies build the products and services that their current employees CAN build. When they insist on trying to build something that is at odds with the skills or goals of their employees, there is a lot of wasted work, and their employees build what they CAN build anyway, since it is really the only option. (You can sort of replace “can” with “want to”, to get what I am trying to say here.)
Of course, if managers head-off the problem by hiring culture upfront, then this problem would likely go away, right? I think hiring is very hard, and I’m really looking forward to hearing your advice in future posts!
Disclaimer: I am not a manager. Just a staff member who often notices what management does.
J – Thanks for the comments – and glad you agree. It is true that hiring for culture or relational competence is challenging. While it takes time, it is probably less time than if you hire the wrong person. So the question is what should your “batting average” be for hiring? Something for a longer post but suffice to say, it’s not going to be “a thousand” or 100% perfect hiring so assume there will be mistakes and don’t be afraid to let people go if they don’t work out…@docktorj
Shannon – thanks too for the comments. Yes, it is much harder to go back after the fact change a culture but it can be done. It will take a lot of passion and a lot of persistence. And culture is part of the process of alignment. You mention a conflict in goals and vision in addition to culture and that’s something that should be easier to fix through clear planning, goal setting and communications. Amazingly though most organizations don’t do that well. Lots of smart people running around that are not in agreement. I plan to write about planning, goal setting, and getting teams focused in the same direction soon…@Shannon Wagner