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Your team is the generating force, the heartbeat, behind your new venture.
The strength of your team determines how thoroughly you analyze the problem,
how many different angles you see, and how complete and competent your
solution will be.
As a student, you may not have a lot of background in building teams.
College tends to be a solo experience. While some of your professors may
have given you group assignments, you may still feel like a team-building
beginner. With student entrepreneurial projects, determining who's responsible
for what is often a big challenge at the beginning of a project. Sit down
with your team and try to resolve some basic issues. You don't have to
put formal titles to your names, but make sure everyone is fairly clear
about her or his role(s).
What
makes teams work?
Teams:
A formula for success
An excellent team is diverse. If you’re an idea person with an eye
on the big picture, fill out your team with detail-oriented people. If
you’re an expert on the technical aspects of your idea, find teammates
with business experience. If you know a lot about the business end, but
aren’t sure how machines work, look for teammates with technical
training. A creative guru, a numbers-cruncher, a people-person with loads
of natural charm…all of these personalities add strength and dimension
to your team, and enhance your chances for success. And working with people
who are different than you, in terms of gender, race, ethnicity, background
and personal traits, will broaden your scope and help your team prepare
for the real world.
Be
a star performer.
Are you a team of one? Your situation may not be ideal, but it may also
not be impossible. Maybe the nature of your project lends itself better
to working alone in the initial planning and production stages. Just don’t
limit yourself. Build a network of mentors and advisors, keeping in mind
the skills and knowledge that they, and possibly additional team members,
might bring to your new venture. Get to know faculty members who might
be interested in your work. Contact your college’s innovation incubator,
technology development office, or entrepreneurship club. Reach out beyond
your college and find out who else is working on the same type of project
as you. Beat the streets for people whose interests are similar, or complementary,
to yours.
Your team may come together in a very democratic way, and for some teams,
relationships necessitate keeping that democratic feeling intact. But
leadership is also critical--someone has to make sure that the team keeps
its momentum going and that the work stays on track. Start reflecting
early on whether you’re the best person for that role, or whether
someone else needs to take charge.
Know why you’re creating a team, and begin with a vision of how you
want the team to work. Jon Katzenberg, Senior Partner in Katzenberg Partners,
LCC, says, “Teams work when they are created for the right reasons,
and when they are created in the right way…The critical decision
for any manager or leader who wants to get higher performance from a small
group of people is determining whether the group should try to work as
a team, or whether they should be satisfied with what I call ‘single-leader
unit’ discipline…Most organizations proliferate with groups
that call themselves teams but aren’t… it’s disturbing
how many managers and leaders assume that being a team is what a group
effort is all about. If a group tries to become a team when the performance
challenge requires a single-leader approach, performance and morale suffer.
The opposite is equally true.”
Find at least one ally who is also a helpful critic—someone who will
react honestly to your work, and give you realistic, constructive advice.
The last thing you want is to pour huge amounts of time, money and passion
into an idea with flaws that are obvious to everyone in the world except
you.
Building an effective team (audio
file) (pdf
transcript)
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