Are You the Problem?

Whether you want to believe it or not, chances are some of your team members are not working on your top priorities. In fact, they could be following a roadmap to nowhere that could kill your business. And you might be the source of the problem.

Most early stage startups don’t have the time, money or people to work on multiple initiatives at once; and certainly no one has enough resources to be working on anything other than your highest priorities. Even in the smallest of companies, getting everyone keenly focused on THE key priorities is a challenge. You, your management team and every single staff member need to be on the same page ALL THE TIME if you want to succeed.

It’s All About Communication. It is a fatal flaw to think that just because you are all in the same office and communicate with each other multiple times per day that everyone understands key priorities. Here is a simple three-step process to help ensure that everyone stays in synch:

• Short-term plan: Once a month or every six weeks, engage in a short planning session with direct reports. Review the top three priorities and everyone’s assignments to accomplish those goals. Beware... there is a tendency to add more initiatives to the list, but don’t let that happen. If you spread resources too thinly, nothing will ever get completed.
  
  If a new idea comes to the table, (a new customer opportunity identified, there’s a need to repair service disruptions, etc.), do a brief analysis (determine financial impact, resources required, time to deliver) and then, if this new idea has merit, decide which of your current priorities will be removed. As a group, you can decide when to stay the course, when to take advantage of market opportunities, and when it’s time to change priorities. But tackle this in a systematic, analytical way so that you’re not enticed by the idea-du-jour.
• Weekly update: Have a mandatory (no excuses) weekly meeting with direct reports. Early Monday before the week is underway is good because it’s easier to work around calendars. If someone is on the road, ask him/her to call in.  And keep it short, no more than an hour. This is a status meeting not a working session. Ask each direct report to highlight what they accomplished last week, what is planned for this week, and any major obstacles that require attention. Ask them to document this in a short email by COB Friday and distribute to the team. If new issues and/or opportunities are identified, determine if they need to be handled immediately or can wait until the next planning session.
• Company-wide communications: Once a month, update all staff on key priorities in a live meeting. If staff are in multiple locations, use a conferencing system like WebEx or GoToMeeting that permits real-time Q&A. You’ll be telling it like it is, so let everyone know in advance that any company secrets shared are to be kept private and you trust them not to spread the news. Most importantly, make sure everyone walks away understanding what their contribution needs to be. You can’t depend solely on others to relay messages from the top down because everyone has/her own listening filters and may not communicate your vision, sense of urgency, and gratefulness for the hard work everyone is doing.

The old adage certainly applies here, “First you tell them what you’re going to tell them; then you tell them, then you tell them what you told them.” Or, as Yogi Berra once said, “You've got to be very careful if you don't know where you're going, because you might not get there." Communication is arguably more important in an early stage startup than in larger organizations due to the critical nature of every individual’s contribution. If everyone is working on the same set of priorities, you definitely have a better chance of achieving them.

John Blair is a venture partner who participates in the due diligence evaluation and consultation of high growth firms interested in JumpStart investments. He also advises portfolio companies, especially in the areas of organizational development, business strategy, sales/marketing and fundraising.