Collaboration

What is Collaboration? 

Today, we understand collaboration usually entails a social element of decision making and activity.  Collaboration amongst peers on a project at work suggests that they worked 'in-concert' to a collective goal.  This is the case throughout many forms of social structure both professionally and at home.  My wife and I collaborate on dinner most evenings.  We collectively pursue the goal by organizing our resources and planning the meal.  We then decide roles and agree upon activities that will bring us closer to our ultimate objective of eating and being nourished.  We then begin the preparation, work the process and arrive at our intended outcome.  Doing something together like preparing a meal or working on a project is always a more rewarding experience and usually always results in better quality results.  Speed is often accelerated but sometimes it's sacrificed for quality through more brainpower and working through team conflict.

There's a lack of value placed on practicing collaboration in most organizations and institutions.  The claims of achieving collaboration are often a 'half-way' attempt to build the scaffolding or pitch the tent but often not rooted in a deep foundation of value around active and consistent collaboration across all teams and people in a company.  We like teams and teamwork and believe they are more effective, yet we still hire individuals and reward people based upon each person's role, objectives and performance.  Now is the time to completely reform the process to encourage active collaboration and accountability from the team.

Start-up Teams

It always amazes me when I meet tech start-up founders. 

Nearly every one has a unique characteristic or some interesting story.  It is something along the way in the course of human development (imho) where an entrepreneur grows and transform their dna through life's ups and downs and sideways.  I strongly believe I am in the midst of a few currently that has the ability to literally change the entire way you interact and share information.  I am excited to learn the technology and how it can be useful to everyone - literally a market of the planet from young toddlers up to elderly.  Every demographic actually possesses a valid and defensible market opportunity.  Of course, as a young, 'cash-is-king' team of innovators they know the strategy is always going to work when built from focused market intelligence and building a solution based sales model to suit industry and particular sector needs.  There are spanning market landscapes throughout 8-10 critical categories of opportunity to leverage and use the software to solve high-value problems.  In such industry segments, there is an evolution and preferred disposition towards information technology growth and user adoption including such industries or use-cases as Energy and Utilities, Cyber Security, NOCs, Intelligence, Military, Sales Teams, Physical Security, Management Dashboards, Federal Emergency Management and every side of the government on federal and local levels.  I will get into more depth on the software over the next few posts and we continue reading about all of the changing ways of communication, rapid instant sharing of critical data in real-time, object oriented dashboard collaboration.

Let's bring this home. 

So, with all that being said, I think it's interesting how things like this business idea go from start to jog to run to sprint.  It really is all about the people and not about the idea - which is often the reason why investors and VCs are often heard mentioning they have blindly, no product invested hundreds of millions in the same team.  That is the power of the team - to earn credibility and gain power through prominence achieved through hard work and constant communication, oh and get loads of cash from discussing an idea.  The most critical element and most important decision you will ever make is when you find a team of people equally as crazy about the same thing and willing to go fight for it.

That is when you do incredible things.  

That is how great teams win championships, mental imbalance, somehow balanced by the weight of the possessed.  So, the process of hiring, recruiting and finding the next star to help the business flourish is a critical activity and should be a team effort.  Everyone, no matter skill, position or seniority - needs to play a part early on.


Happy Selling.

Clan Mentality in C-Suite

The enduring characteristic that is omnipresent in many folks in C-Suites and executive teams today (and in years past) has seemingly nothing to do with delivering results.  What got them there?  There are two distinguishable traits of an executive today, especially in startups that have transitioned from the original founders vision and mindset.  When the board or investors appoint new leadership - the exodus and mass-replacement begins.  There is suddenly many folks brought on board who are former colleagues and have at least one similar shop shared with the new CEO.

I'd argue, that because the CEO has so many challenges he's faced with from many dynamic pressures - IPO, board, investors, profit, acquisitions, product, customer satisfaction...

And, because of these pressures and the shrinking time-line to produce some results, the CEO is more apt to appoint former colleagues not because of their skills, abilities or ability to demonstrate performance in their respective craft - but nearly totally for the loyalty and trust established with the appointing CEO.  Not a completely bad thing. 

If you're like me, you'd expect (or hope) the loyalty and trust to be granted and upheld to the executive based upon a tenure established in their previous post because of their superior performance.  But, that is a noble desire and loft expectation and often untrue situation.  And, just because they may have exemplified and earned the trust and loyalty towards the CEO in the past - that doesn't indicate a likelihood to execute well in this new venture. 

This is what is called the clan mentality - where people surround themselves with like-minded and subservient people to uphold their mission.  I'd argue that would be the antithesis of what you should do, namely, by attracting the folks who you know won't give you the level of fresh insight that may make the difference in success and failure.  I think we should honor loyalty and respect for former colleagues has incredible value.  Not to mention, some may have the ability to reciprocate their previous superior performance and will deliver.  A Great VP of Sales can follow his system and build a great team to drive revenue and margins to the sky.

Take it with a grain of salt and take the staffing seriously, recruit always and often with an eye to attracting fresh blood and talent to the mix.  People who know how you work, what to do and how to uphold their part of the team are no doubt integral.  But, absent those who have varying experiences and the courage to challenge your decisions due to their precedent of experience is too valuable to not recruit outside talent.  Also, look inside the organization for some upward promotion opportunity, especially in companies who contain entire divisions with talent already familiar with the organizational culture, product.  

-James