MEMSI June 2018: Building a winning team - Part 2
•Download as PPTX, PDF•
1 like•84 views
In this mini talk, we revisit the importance of diversity in a founding team, then turn our attention to the importance of clear roles and responsibilities. We provide practical ways for a new team to develop an effective team process.
Recommended
Recommended
More Related Content
What's hot
What's hot (20)
Similar to MEMSI June 2018: Building a winning team - Part 2
Similar to MEMSI June 2018: Building a winning team - Part 2 (20)
More from Elaine Chen
More from Elaine Chen (20)
Recently uploaded
Recently uploaded (20)
MEMSI June 2018: Building a winning team - Part 2
- 1. MIT Entrepreneurship and Maker Skills Integrator Building a winning team, Part 2 Elaine Chen May 2018
- 2. 2
- 3. Sneak preview: Team formation considerations 3 Your preferred role Your skill set Your area of interest ?? Team chemistry ??
- 5. 5
- 6. “A group of people working together does not automatically equal a team.” – Linda Hill, Harvard Business School 6
- 7. 6 Ingredients that makes an effective team 1. Clear roles and responsibilities 2. Clear working approach 3. Effective decision making process 4. Equitable participation from all members 5. Managing influence 6. Working through conflict 7
- 8. The RACI model (a.k.a. what does everyone do?) • R: Responsible • A: Accountable (i.e. the project lead) • C: Consulted • I: Informed 8 1. Clear roles and responsibilities
- 9. 9
- 10. There can be only one CEO. • Decide how you will pick the CEO. • Volunteer based? Elected? • Idea premium? Experience premium? • Other? • Consciously define roles / responsibilities • Write down and share your “job specs” • Revisit periodically & adjust as needed 10
- 11. 2. Clear working approach 11 Things to decide up front: • Logistics • Project plan • Division of labor • Project management
- 12. 3. Effective decision making process 12 • Is this a solo or group decision? • If the latter: Who will facilitate the discussion? • Points to ponder: • Dictatorial approach versus groupthink • Knee jerk decision making versus analysis paralysis • The need for speed – and agreeing to disagree Learn to agree to disagree
- 13. 4. Equitable participation 13 • Who participates a lot? Why? To what effect? • Who doesn’t participate? Why not? To what effect? • Did anyone suddenly withdraw from participation? Why? • How do you treat the silent people? • Are the interactions excluding people?
- 14. 5. Managing Influence 14 Questions to pose • Who has influence? Why? • Who is ignored? Why? • Is the influence shifting? Why? • Is there a division within the team? Why? • Who interrupts whom and is this tolerated? Why? • How does your team treat minority views?
- 15. 6. Working through conflict 15 Working through task conflict is good! • People who agree all the time are probably stuck in groupthink • OR they may be cowed into becoming yes-people • OR they may be just lazy Unhandled interpersonal conflict is bad! • Why is it unhandled? Are you being lazy? Are you hiding? • Are you being passive aggressive? • Are you being outright aggressive? None of these states are conducive to success
- 16. Some ideas to help manage conflict • Define the rules of engagement. What behaviors are OK and what’s not OK? • Agree to disagree – then move on • Have a mechanism to discuss issues privately • Ground discussions on data, not opinions • Consider multiple alternatives • Be fair – empower members to contribute equally 16
- 17. If things get funky, who will fix it? • We are here to help – come see us any time privately or in a group if you need to talk through things. • BUT: Ultimately it is the responsibility of each and every one of you to speak up (nicely!) when there is an issue, and help the team work towards a solution. 17
- 18. Resources • Note on team process by Linda Hill and Maria Farkas - Harvard Business Review https://hbr.org/product/note-on-team- process/402032-PDF-ENG • Effective Meetings: A Checklist for Success https://hbr.org/product/effective-meeting-a-checklist-for- success/C0103A-PDF-ENG
- 19. Questions? 19
Editor's Notes
- Do we have a position on this? Hell yeah. A lot of times, in many startups, the most overrated thing in a startup is the idea. Ideas are a dime a dozen. Anyone can have ideas. BUT the team is what will make it work. Tech based startups like Lightmatter are a little different – but it still comes down to the team making things work. Lightmatter has raised $11m and are on an arms race to get a first working chip prototyped. The only way they can get it done is if the team is cohesive, has complementary skills and works well together like a well oiled machine. The #1 reason startups fail is a bad team. So we want to take a few minutes to talk about what makes a great team.
- That was a super quick exercise to get you thinking about what you want to do and what you bring to the table. There is are two more dimensions. The third dimension is this: Which is your area of interest. Healthcare? Gaming? Wearable devices? Sustainability? That’s the last thing you should consider when forming a team and the first guiding principle for the team. Because ultimately your team will work on 1 project, and we want you to find folks who are interested in the same few things you are interested in – and help you form teams that are reasonably diverse in preferred role and skill sets as well. The fourth dimension is of course, team chemistry. Do you get along with your team? Can you figure out how to work with them? Do the personalities mesh with good chemistry? This, of course, you won’t know until you get a bit deeper into the project. This is why we will have two time slots where you will be taking 1x1 meetings with TAs to discuss how things go. The rest of the day will include many more team building and networking activities to help you get to know each other a little more. At this point let’s take a break and answer any q’s – then we will move on to the next activity.