Welcome to the team. You'll be thrown into yet another new workspace with new faces and new challenges. You'll vet possible solutions then rework, refine, and reduce your strategy. At the same time, your new team will have to establish roles, goals, and subgroups to reach a shared vision. We've all experienced the phenomenon of rapid team development and project management. Sometimes, it's a painstaking process that makes you want to bang your head against the wall. Other times, things just seem to click--teammates communicate, think entrepreneurially, and do whatever it takes to get the job done.
I recently experienced a Startup Weekend--a 56-hour work-a-thon where the common goal is to dream up a fresh business venture and build it. Over 500 startups have come out of these whirlwind events! During my time with my newly formed Startup Weekend team, some common themes emerged. I've taken those insights and boiled them down into three strategies for thriving in new teams:
- Clarify the vision. Time is your most valuable asset. Before you spend precious minutes moving in any given direction, make sure it's the right move and that everyone is on board. You don't have to hammer out all of the details from the start, but a deep understanding of the project's purpose and the pain you're setting out to solve will go a long way in creating a valuable output. Once you're all in, it's time to -
- Find out where you fit. How do your skills complement those of your teammates? You probably have a number of areas in which you can excel and create real value. Find out where the holes are in the team and fill in where it makes sense - the work you do that's in your sweet spot will shine that much more.
- Be nimble enough to shift directions. It's important to buy into the team vision to some degree, but don't lose your objectivity. If something just isn't working - stop. During a big push in any project, someone will inevitably say, "We've got to stay on track." But who ever said we wanted to stay on that track!? Sometimes it's good to question whether or not you're on the right track. If you're not, that's okay. Make a call and adjust accordingly.
The next time you find yourself in a new team situation, keep these strategies in mind. I think you'll find that you're better prepared to tackle your project and find the right track.
Our Startup Weekend team certainly had its challenges, but in the end we were able to crank out a cool new conversion tool named Ninja Button in those three short days. By the end of the weekend, the product was a little rough around the edges, but we had a valuable web-based application and the ability to charge for it as a service.
What do you think of these principles? What team strategies work for you?
