David Cummings on Startups

Team Building in the Early Days of a New Startup

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David Cummings

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Knowing that startups are all about people, people, people, it’s important to address team building in the early days of a new startup. Getting the right people on the bus is the first and foremost priority followed by building rapport and trust amongst the team members — the better the team works together, the better the results.

Here are some team building ideas for the early days of a new startup:

  • Use daily check-ins to align focus and develop transparency
  • Simple things like breaking bread and grabbing lunch together on a regular basis goes a long ways
  • Get team members involved in the hiring decisions whenever possible and always focus on corporate culture fit
  • Work to understand each other’s personality styles and be open about how best to communicate internally

People are what make a startup work, or not work, and should be taken very seriously. With the right people in place, the next step is getting the team operating at a high level — this takes time and is critically important.

What else? What are some other ideas for team building in the early days of a new startup?

Comments

2 responses to “Team Building in the Early Days of a New Startup”

  1. Eric Langley Avatar
    Eric Langley

    Want something fun to show how difficult it is to work as a team? Try the helium stick exercise. For this exercise you need a long (about 10′ or so) light weight stick like a piece of corner molding.

    Have your team (6-10 is ideal) stand in two rows facing each other. Then everyone puts out both hands with the palms down and the index fingers pointing at the other person. Then the “helium” stick is placed on the top of the everyone’s index fingers.

    The objective is for the team to work together to get the stick to the ground without the stick leaving anyone’s finger and with the stick completely level.

    Say go.

    Much to everyone’s surprise the stick will actually rise. This where the fun, and shouting, usually starts!

    We use this in conjunction with our Social Style personality model. When we split the teams by personality there is usually one personality group that can perform this task easily while another struggles. Can you guess which personality type group struggles?

    Reply
  2. Venkatesan Sundaram Avatar
    Venkatesan Sundaram

    I would say shared commitment to the goal the team is trying to achieve is another important factor that keeps the team together …

    Reply

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