TEAM DEVELOPMENT
Through the Life-Cycle
of the Technology Enterprise
ABOUT LARCEN STRAYER
 “Building strong business fundamentals through excellent people
practices”
 Integral part of Silicon Valley since 1983
 Involved with 200 start-ups
 Business approach focused on tools and techniques
AGENDA
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Overview the basics of team development
Frame the start-up life-cycle
Identify the challenges inherent in each stage of the cycle
Review strategies for building effective teams through each stage
CHARACTERISTICS OF HIGH
PERFORMING TEAMS
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Communicate openly and freely
Provide each other with open, direct feedback
Hold each other accountable
Manage time and effort productively
Fully utilize diverse strengths, styles, points of view
Define and follow decision making guidelines
Manage conflict effectively
Team Development Process
Stage 5
Collaboration
Stage 4
Individual
Differentiation
PERFORMING
Stage 3
Confrontation
NORMING
Stage 1
Membership
• expectations of leaders
•interdependencies
Stage 2
Sub-Grouping
FORMING
•style
•values/philosophy
•roles
STORMING
•feedback
•rules of engagement
•power
KEYS TO CREATING
HIGH PERFORMING TEAMS
Recognize and plan to the inevitability of the cycle
Devote time to team development activities
Identify and immediately address team issues
Set and enforce constructive team norms
Readdress team development with any change in team
composition
 Don’t tolerate the “prima donna” syndrome
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STARTUP LIFE CYCLE
Build the Organization
Emerging Adult
Satisfy the
Customers
Adolescence
Childhood
Infancy
Clarify the Idea
Mature Adult
Complete the
Product
CHARACTERISTICS OF CHILDHOOD
 Like a 2-year-old -- into everything
 Success and arrogance
 See no problems -- only opportunities
 Every opportunity is a priority
 No systems, no policies, no control
 Planning by wishful thinking
 Founder struggles with delegation
 Founder first to violate rules and policies
CHILDHOOD -COMMON TEAM ISSUES
 Lack of diversity of skills and points of view (focus on product
development)
 Founder team resistance
 “Group think” if all come from same company
 CEO hiring his friends rather than to needs
 “Morphing” roles
CHILDHOOD -RECOMMENDED TEAM ACTIVITIES
 Clarify vision, values and “rules of engagement”
 Agree upon and enforce standards for accountability
 Define a common vision for leadership
 Create clear descriptions of roles (and how they may change with
growth)
 Set an expectation for ongoing assessment, feedback and
development
 Reserve time devoted to team-building
CHARACTERISTICS OF ADOLESCENCE
 High turnover, complaints from senior leaders
 Oozing strategy -- still highly opportunistic
 Chaotic, overwhelmed -- not focused on priorities
 Constant change in roles
 Rebellion against beginning structure
 Senior managers still doing too much
“hands on” -- need to build next level management
ADOLESCENCE -COMMON TEAM ISSUES
 Additions to leadership team result in narrowing roles
 Jobs may outgrow skill levels of initial executives
 Size and complexity of business require narrowing of
involvement in decision-making
 CEO transition may result in style change
 VP’s (individually and as a team) must move into more strategic
role
ADOLESCENCE -RECOMMENDED TEAM ACTIVITIES
 Make sure structure continues to track to evolving vision
 Clearly define new roles before hiring new members of team
 Support individuals and team in clarifying changes in roles
 Proactively address changes in decision-making involvement
 Continue to expect ongoing assessment, feedback and
development
 Continue to devote time to teambuilding, addressing the need to
“re-form” with new members
 Pay attention to building functional and cross-functional teams
LEADERSHIP TEAM
Mature Adult
Plan for Growth
•Develop growth strategy
•Instill discipline
•Build next level of leaders
Emerging Adult
Cross Functional Planning
•Develop and align around strategic plan
• Create framework for monitoring functional
Adolescence
Childhood
Infancy
performance
•Identify/address infrastructure needs
Effective Functional Team Leadership
•Functional support of product introduction
•Plan for scaling function
•Identify/prioritize skill/headcount needs
SIGNS OF TROUBLE
 Turf battles
 High turnover/complaints from senior leaders
 Lack of visibility/plan from each function
 Unclear roles/boundaries
 Tolerance of “prima donna” behavior
 Lack of cross-functional goal alignment
 No clear successors or next level managers identified
CEO ROLE
Mature Adult
DELIVERING RESULTS AND
PREPARING THE MARKET
• IPO
•M&A
• STRATEGIC PARTNERS
Emerging Adult
BUILDING THE
CROSS-FUNCTIONAL TEAM
Adolescence
DRIVING THE TECHNICAL TEAM
Childhood
Infancy
FOUNDER GROUP
DOMINANCE
SIGNS OF TROUBLE
 High turnover, complaints from senior leaders
 Company is focused on short-term transactions rather than long
terms strategies
 Frequent tension/conflict between CEO and Board
 Lack of credibility with investors
 Ineffective recruitment of senior leaders
 Lack of communication/understanding of vision
 Dysfunctional culture