Venture Capitalists - There is a flaw in the process
Research is complete in the start up company, product is great, venture capital obtained and the media has showcased the product, company and possibilities in the market. Scientific/technological experts in the field ARE the new management team. Offices, work-stations, equipment is in place, support staff hired. Excitement is palpable. Conversation about “product to market” is endless. Something is still missing. The team isn’t a team. Little is done to build a high functioning team among top scientific specialists. Technology is the focus. Assumptions are made that these specialists can and will build a team. That isn’t their skill. Without team building there is no team mindset. Without a team mindset there is no real company - a costly and frequent mistake.
Team building with top experts is extremely valuable:
- Experts talk directly with each other. Assumptions are known and misperceptions identified. Open, honest conversations clear the path to next steps.
- Leaders make better decisions based on straight forward information. Trust grows. Conflict becomes a growthful experience.
- Developers of the product no longer own the product. A team mindset develops where everyone’s job is to get this product to market. Commitment grows.
Expecting a team of experts to manage its own growth is risky. As Dr. Deming would say, “systems can’t see themselves” and experts are individual systems.
When a company facilitates its own team building the risk is this:
- A senior management view is adopted which automatically minimizes wide spread creativity.
- If coercion is suspected, employees resist;
- Beliefs about who controls power, resources and money, impedes progress;
- Product specialists aren’t trained in team-building.
Recommendations for VC’s:
A Include team-building into the start up process.
B Ask for help. It’s a sign of strength. Use people in the culture and a specialist from outside the company to build the team.
External team-building specialists expand awareness of what’s happening and minimize the political influence that’s always at play. I recommend, as did my mentor W. Edwards Deming, that any form of major change requires internal specialists who know the culture and an external specialists who knows the change process and how to deal with natural human resistance. External consultants offer:
- A wealth of team-building experience so they can envision possible outcomes long before those in the system can.
- An unbiased approach to what’s possible. They are more willing to try something new.
- A challenge to old beliefs that allows old behaviors and the accompanying resistance to fall away.
- Strategies that reveal deeper, underlying, yet unspoken, concerns of employees, management included.
- Coalescence for support across the organization.
- Unbiased support for culture growth.
VC’s risk lost revenue and company failure when they don’t build teams up front. Don’t assume that great technical experts can or should build a team. They know their product. They are not skilled in team building. There is so much excitement that this piece is overlooked time and again. Venture Capitalists have told me repeatedly that they choose top people because they assume that they know how to build a team. Don’t make this mistake. It just isn’t so.
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Janice Calnan of CALNAN GROUP, Ottawa Ontario, Canada, executive coach, author, specialist in organizational change. Her book SHIFT: Secrets of Positive Change for Organizations and Their Leaders obtained through www.janicecalnan.com . Reach Janice at (613) 721-5900 or info@janicecalnan.com .
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