From Medicine to McKinsey to Main St

Potential turning into momentum

This is article 1 of the Strategy for Startups series

One of the hardest transitions for startups is going from 1-2 guys killing themselves to make an idea happen, to then having a team of folks, salaries, and the beginning of a hierarchy where people get positions and titles.

The problem with startups is that founders start out with big titles– and as the organization grows, people seem to get added underneath, but its harder to add people on top. And the roles of people with those big titles really changes as a larger organization emerges from the scrappy startup.

Its not just about hiring A people…its hiring A people that have the right tools for the job they need to perform. As this is a dynamic process, one of the keys to success is understanding the jobs that need to be done and will need to get done in the next few months and putting people into roles where they can stretch to fill the task. Here are 5 tips to make that happen.

1. Clear mission focus: Everyone on the team should know what problems the company solves, and for which customers. Each person in the organization should know how their job contributes to that goal and be evaluated against metrics they control that move that goal forward.

2. Development goals: For each role, determine what skills needs and experiences are required to get the job done, both today and 12-18 months out.  Give people a snapshot of skills required, current status, and things to work on.  Then make sure you give them opportunities where they can prove themselves.  Reward those who grow into their role with a new “stretch” opportunity. Don’t allow those who can’t stretch into the new role block those underneath them.  Here’s where a lot of hires go bad…you hire an “athlete” with a nice personality.  Evaluate this person for their toolkit and the potential to stretch into the role you need filled.

3.  Accountability: Make metrics transparent and show who’s hitting targets, who’s missing them, and who’s building solid capabilities.  Celebrate the wins and get to the bottom of the losses.  Spend time to fix the holes where performance is poor.  Give both financial rewards and recognition to those who exceed targets.  Those who miss targets shouldn’t receive rewards…regardless of the reasons behind it (and there are always reasons beyond their control–if you accept them, then that excuse becomes ok and no one will take the targets seriously).

4.   Create opportunities: Encourage those who’ve met the tasks of their current role to take on new responsibilities.  Carve our development opportunities or let them drive their own.  In all cases, reward those who see opportunities and create impact that drives the mission forward.

5. Encourage curiosity: Leaps in performance come from the questioning of the status quo.  Celebrate well-executed failures (if you don’t fail often enough, you’re not trying very hard) and build upon the new learnings.  Make problem-solving non-hierarchical.  Encourage debate and the challenging of assumptions.  If you’re hiring better people than yourselves, you’ll find them constantly surprising you with new insights that can accelerate your business on the path to success.

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