Nobody Prepared Me On How To Communicate In A Growing Team

Founding a company is easy, finding a great team a challenge, keeping everyone happy at all times — impossible.

I have seen a thing or two in the last two decades of working in startups and smaller companies. When I started my little consulting firm, back in 2007 next to my regular job, I didn’t know this would become my main job for the years to come.

In 2015, I decided to take full responsibility for my actions and founded GANDT Ventures. Five years down the line, the team has grown to encompass entrepreneurs, online marketing professionals and a few strong IT-developers. Needless to say, it’s become more than a (relaxed) one-man show.

The team is diverse, each and every person on it brings something to the table that others don’t. It is such a delight to work with so many different people, who have their own view on life and what they would like to get out of it.

Creating a common vision has not been an issue so far; I (think) to know exactly where I would like us to go and how we’d like to develop as a group. It is my job to communicate that clearly, regularly and to a certain extent even daily. I know that I could ask each and every individual on the team: “What is our vision and where do we want to go,” and they would answer fairly similarly.

The thing is, our group vision is not merely my opinion or how I see the world, we have developed the concept of where we would like to go over many months and years as a team.

Yet, as the year got off to a slow start and I focused my full attention “long term goals,” I had taken a step back from the team and failed to realize what was going through each and every individuals’ minds. Essentially, I had done a tremendously poor job at communicating what was going on in our group and what I had been up to. Here’s why…

Listen carefully

As the group CEO, you don’t get invited to every single party or slack chat, anymore. Even-though we live and preach flat hierarchies, they are quick frankly there. It is common sense that you don’t share the same information with every one, especially not your boss. And there is nothing wrong with that.

What is important to know is that amount of information a CEO receives from his peers, is far less than what the most communicative employees on the team hear and learn from each other. You might not like it and be the most amicable chef, ever seen — it will happen.

The decentralization of communication is a challenge for any small team. Not every single piece of information comes directly from the CEO, anymore; and thank god it doesn’t.

I have tried to empower the information flow and open communication within the team from day one. It has resulted in open team chats on Slack, and a culture in which every single person will pick up the phone when you call, regardless of rank or team. It is something I am really proud of and what defines us as a team.

This also means that information can come from various parts of the organization. A team- or project lead can communicate their thoughts openly and directly throughout the team. I believe this empowers everyone to show their thoughts and concerns.

But one draw back is that information is shared from very different perspectives, which can cause confusion.

It is extremely important to listen carefully to the bits and bites of information you receive, and consolidate the learnings now and again.

Communication silos

It will happen, that communication silos start to build. You don’t spend the same amount of time with each and every employee as the team grows.

You don’t go for lunch with the each and every employee anymore, as you used to in the beginning. The topics you tackled on day one are not the same ones as those five years later. So you seek out for knowledge exchanges with peers that suit your current mindset. This causes topic-, client- and other communication silos to evolve.

What I’ve noticed, is that it is very important for me to spend time with people from various departments and teams, actively.

It is something that I hadn’t been very good at in the last few months. The kickoff to a new year, and all that comes with it, takes up quite a bit of administrative energy from any CEO. What I had underestimated, was that the flow of information between and across teams, had come to a halt.

Even-though the tools were in place to share insights and concerns, they simply weren’t.

Anticipate self-reflection, of others too

Now what I failed to realize is that the year’s end is a time for reflection for everyone; not just for me… Each individual on the team had (logically) taken the time to reflect on the last year and where they would personally like to go. This year, I hadn’t taken enough time to converse with my team mates on their hopes and dreams.

The reason I don’t say problems and struggles is that those tend to come up fairly quickly. But most people do not take their time to discuss where they would like to go and be x-months from now.

As the CEO I have two simple jobs:

1. Make sure there are sufficient funds in the bank to pay all salaries
2. Do everything in my power to give my team what they need to succeed

Sometimes what we need is not what we don’t have, but it is where we would like to be. I’ve realized that it is crucial to spend more time with key employees on my team to talk to them about their perspective of the future; not necessarily for the company, but for themselves.

Perks, laptops and other gadgets are not nearly as important as personal development, where does an employee want to be one, to two years from now.

What I need to do is listen to their thoughts and communicate clearly how I think these ideas could be put into action. Ultimately, enable each and every individual on the team to pursue their own hopes and dreams as much as I do mine with the company.

It is frustrating, really, to realize you did not act quickly enough to growing concerns.

Maybe I should start to add a third point to my list:

3. Communicate, often and proactively at all times to avoid an unnecessary feeling of uncertainty

You cannot come prepared

Nobody ever prepares you on how best to communicate with your team in every single situation. In many cases, it is not just about the company, but many factors come into play that make it difficult to judge what the best approach would be.

It took me too long to realize just how poor my communication had been. As a group we were doing “fine,” but some of the employees had voiced that they were “driving in 4th gear” — they felt excluded from strategic issues and were stifled in their work approach. The fun, energy and positive attitude towards the next quarter, had fainted within a mere couple of weeks.

How I dealt with the situation in the last few weeks?

I decided to voice my concerns to everyone in one go. I got the full team together and addressed the uncertainties, followed by two full days of one-on-ones.

I have seen, and acknowledge the fact that I haven’t communicated enough in the last couple of weeks. Without wanting to do so, I have created a bit of a void between me and the rest of the team, which really did not have to be there. I know that it is one thing to say that I’ll listen, but it is another to actually pro-actively reach out and be open to receiving input.

I firmly believe that the only way forward for me and the team is to communicate more and spend time together talking about the things that matter to us. We can always find work — something to do. But I need to create touch points with more individuals in the organization that enable me to form a good view of the current team spirit and situation.

I wanted to share these notes because I think it is important to communicate openly; you learn as you go and one of the most difficult things to do is to communicate. I feel grateful for the feedback and talks I’ve been able to have with my peers in the last few days.

We do a great job, as a team, and I will make sure that we continue to build on that. I want to enable each and every individual to follow their dreams and try to enable them to do so as much as I can.

This company is not about me, or it would have had my name on it. But it is about the people that make it great. I am just a small part of that. As the team continues to develop its own spike, I need to make sure that each and every one can bring their very best to the table.

Have a great day everyone,

Remco

For more CEO-notes, thoughts on organizational development and entrepreneurship, follow me on Medium or Twitter Remco Livain (“@rlivain”)