Managing a startup presents several unique challenges that aren’t typically encountered during the management of an established company staffed by employees who’ve already become accustomed to working with one another. Thus, perhaps the biggest obstacle you’ll need to surmount will be assembling and managing your startup’s core team of decision makers and task-doers. Fortunately, anyone can become a highly motivational and effective startup team manager by simply following the guide below.
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Use Team Building Activities
After you’ve passed the initial step of screening, interviewing, and hiring your team, it’s best to launch a comprehensive orientation event that will help everyone get to know each other and prepare to operate more cohesively as a unit. Most team building events are designed to be fun and social, often taking place outdoors or during scenic city tours to lighten the mood. You can get an idea of the different team building activities available from this website. In an optimal scenario, team building is a preliminary step that is taken pre-launch. However, it can also be beneficial for older startups that want to enhance team dynamics.
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Invest in Learning and Development (L&D)
In addition to helping your team get acquainted, you’ll want to spend the beginning phases of team management focused on training and mental preparation. Ideally, you’ll already have a group of capable and competent collaborators to work with, but even experienced professionals will need guidance pertaining to the processes they’ll be using to achieve the startup’s goals. It may be wise to invest in L&D services to foster leadership skills, facilitate guided brainstorming, and introduce useful practices and policies during the weeks leading up to or following launch day.
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Monitor Employee Performance and Progress
As you are managing a company that’s just starting out, it’s important to keep tabs on how well each employee is doing and how quickly they’re adapting. This may involve using employee monitoring software to review how efficiently they’re performing digital tasks, or simply analysing results and progress in hindsight. Since exact metrics will vary depending on the type of startup you’re operating, it’s difficult to provide precise recommendations for which attributes you should be looking at, but generally, it’s wise to pay attention to any measurement or statistic that has a measurable effect on expansions and bottom line.
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Hold Weekly Meetings
After the original orientation, training, and monitoring steps have been taken, it’s good to hold weekly meetings to keep everyone on track. Speaking to team members, allowing them to share their input, and introducing game plan adjustments will help you develop a progressive and adaptive approach. Take some time to prepare an agenda and informative content for the meeting so that you’ll be following a planned outline versus just randomly tossing ideas around – although you may want to allocate 10-15 minutes for a spontaneous brainstorming segment as well. You can also use weekly meetings to go over presentations and slideshows that help the team fine-tune efforts through ongoing edification.
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Spearhead with Skill and Precision
When you’re responsible for making sure a startup is going to do well in its first year of business, there can be a lot of pressure on both management and the workforce in that position. To instill confidence in your team and make the most out of every shift and project, you’ll need to set the bar by working on your own skills and making it known that you have very high and specific standards and expectations. Set challenging yet realistic objectives that push the limits and drive productivity forward. Leading by example and illustrating intensity and enthusiasm will set the tone for the rest of the team, and if you’re convincing enough, they’ll follow your lead.
