Most founders are a nightmare to work with. They switch tasks, change direction, and fire off urgent messages at 3am. They get mad at their team for not keeping up. They forget their colleagues have lives outside of work. Founders expect everyone to match their passion and dedication without matching their potential upside. But this drains their best people dry.
I’ve studied entrepreneurs who get this right and very wrong, and ran a company of twenty people before selling it in 2021. Whatever you say, your team will take as instruction. Your words carry more weight than you know. Handle this responsibility with care.
Business owners need to work on themselves before demanding perfection from everyone else. Your crazy shouldn’t be someone else’s problem. Your triggers shouldn’t make work a living hell. Fix your erratic nature and create an environment where people love their work. It’s time to become a better colleague.
How to get the best from your team: proven strategies that work
Write your user manual
Create a guide for others to understand how you work. Share your quirks, your preferences, and your deal breakers. Document how you communicate, what sets you off, and what makes you happy. Let your team know what they’re dealing with.
Ask your team to write their own manual. How do they best communicate? What’s their ideal work structure, and their Myers-Briggs? When do they need space? Keep your documents updated and refer to them often. Share them with new hires. Make them required reading.
Build horizontal relationships
The book The Courage to Be Disliked by Ichiro Kishimi and Fumitake Koga explains how vertical relationships hold our business back. When someone feels “above” or “below” others, insecurity and competition take over. Even parent-child relationships work better when viewed as equals.
Support everyone in your team to grow and watch them support you back. Build trust between peers. Foster two-way respect and mutual understanding. Instead of “well done,” say “thanks.” Some founders want everyone scared of them. But that never works long term.
Get on the same team
Every person in your business plays on the same side. No one wins when someone else loses. No one gets ahead by holding others back. You move forward together or not at all. My husband and I have used “same team” as our mantra for 17 years. This mindset must start at the top.
Make this your mantra too. Write it everywhere and say it often. Every decision, deadline and target should make your team stronger. Avoid competing and focus on collaborating. Celebrate wins together. Support each other through losses.
Address issues fast
Never be passive aggressive, no matter who you’re working with. Never expect things to fix themselves, because they only escalate. If something bugs you, bring it up straight away. Follow the rules of nonviolent communication and tackle everything head on.
Stop expecting your team to read your mind. Stop dropping hints. Refuse to make snide comments or talk about anyone behind their back. Air concerns quickly and clearly. Create an environment where honest communication rules. Your team shouldn’t fear giving feedback.
Work on yourself first
Your unequivocal strengths have a dark side. You’re impatient, erratic and demanding. You expect everyone else to work at your pace and on your schedule. You get triggered by things that don’t really matter. But the team puts up with it because they have to. This stops now.
Spot your triggers and notice your patterns. Write down what annoys you and find the common thread. Work through your issues without dragging everyone into them. Sort your mindset before you cause burnout in your whole team.
Create an environment where colleagues thrive: guide for leaders
Leading a team means working on yourself first. Write your user manual, build horizontal relationships and stop playing politics. Get everyone on the same team and address issues fast. Be the kind of colleague you wish you had when you were starting out. Show others how it’s done.
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