Building Your Team

Bill NusseySilverpop CEO

January 4, 2007

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Introduction

The power of a great team

Finding, hiring and keeping world class people

Keeping your team effective

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The Power of a Great Team

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Words of Wisdom

"Teamwork is the ability to work together toward a common vision. The ability to direct individual accomplishments toward organizational objectives. It is the fuel that allows common people to attain uncommon results." --Andrew Carnegie

"Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence wins championships." --Michael Jordan

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed people can change the world. Indeed. It is the only thing that ever has." --Margaret Mead

"Teamwork is so important that it is virtually impossible for you to reach the heights of your capabilities or make the money that you want without becoming very good at it." --Brian Tracy

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Building a World Class Team

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There is something that is much more scarce, something finer far, some-thing rarer than ability. It is the ability to recognize ability.

- Elbert Hubbard

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The success of any business depends on getting and keeping VTP’s…

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VTP = Very Talent People

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A Guide to VTP’s

Five things you need to know about VTP’s

What kinds of people can be considered VTP’s?

Which types of VTP’s do you need?

The challenges of finding VTP’s Using recruiters

Assessing the fit of potential VTP’s My favorite interview and reference questions

How to motivate and retain VTP’s

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The DNA of a VTP…

Intelligent In small businesses, most problems are new and benefit from novel

solutions

The four “E’s of GE leadership “Energy, ability to energize others, edge to make tough decisions, and

execute. They are connected by P for passion”, from the book Jack

Self-motivated High levels of energy Can generate great results with minimal direction and push

Self-correcting Can address most problems without involving their supervisor Understands that even problems caused by others can be fixed by taking

action themselves

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Which VTP’s Do You Need?

Varies with the stage of your company Early stage (less than $2 million in revenue) needs generalists Mid stage (greater than $10 - $15M in revenue or over 75 people) needs

specialists

Yin and Yang One person can rarely serve all the needs of a business - the best

approach I’ve seen is a pair of complimentary personalities

The big resume paradox Question: which is better, the strong willed, seasoned exec with a mile-

long resume or the unproven up and comer who is out to make a name for himself?

Answer: I don’t know – it depends entirely on how they fit into the team. Do they compliment the existing people? Are their values lined up?

Conclusion: don’t be intoxicated by a big resume – I’ve found that a mixed set of experience levels works best of all

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The Challenges of Finding VTP’s

Very Talented People are extremely hard to find…

They are almost always employed

They are already paid well and not easily motivated by more money

They want to work for someone smarter than them so they can learn … So much for the old adage of hiring people smarter than you – it’s

much easier said than done…

What can you do to get VTP’s interested?

It really about your vision for the role, your personal commitment to their success and the promise of something more fun, exciting, growth oriented and wealth building than anything else out there

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Finding VTP’s

Techniques for finding VTP’s

Every VTP tends to know a few other VTP’s

Try hiring a Junior VTP and let her come into her own in your company

Show them how they will be more successful at your company than they can be somewhere else (note: successful often means something different to VTP’s)

Hiring VTP’s is not an HR function – involve your senior most people personally

Remember, A players hire A players and B players hire C players

When all else fails, use recruiters

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My Experience With Recruiters

Understand the value of recruiters Sourcing – finding candidates Filtering – resume collection and first pass interviews Promoting – pitch your company to candidates

Always start by tapping your network Some roles are better sourced through a network than others (e.g., your

board isn’t likely to know Oracle DBA’s but probably does know sales execs)

Use functionally specific firms for staff positions For technical, service or finance positions, I try to use firms that

specialize in those areas Always use contingent firms here so you can bring in additional help if

the first firm is struggling

Only use fixed-fee recruiters for exec jobs

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If you find a VTP, how do you know they are a fit?

Spend some time together outside the office Dinner, golf, drinks If you really want to understand someone, meet their significant other

Look for common values How do they feel about family, past-times, work ethic, competitors,

working with customers, and dealing with colleagues

Will you enjoy working with them? This is an important and fair question that is often overlooked

Interview them, interview them and interview them some more The more diverse the interviewers, the better the perspective

Reference checks Floss your teeth, wear sun screen, and always, always do reference

checks

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My Favorite Questions for Candidates

Interview questions

If I call your detractors from your last job, what would they say about you? Why do you want to work for us? Describe the biggest mistake you’ve made in your career Where do you see yourself in 10 years? What do you see yourself doing in the first 30 days of your job here?

Reference questions

Would you work with this person again given the chance? If so, why aren’t you working with them now?

What kind of working environment allowed this person to do their best work (borrowed from Southwest Airlines)?

What situation would you NOT put this person in? (from Amazon)

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Keeping Your Team Effective

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Keeping a Great Team Great

Absence of Trust

Fear of Conflict

Lack of Commitment

Avoidanceof Accountability

In-attention

to Results

Invulnerability

Artificial Harmony

Ambiguity

Low Standards

Status and Ego

The Five Dysfunctionsof a Team

By Patrick M. Lencioni

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Keeping a Great Team Great

Slow to hire, quick to fire If you are beginning to worry that someone on your team is not making

the cut any longer, you can be sure that the rest of your team figured it out long ago… (hint: you will usually be the last to see it)

The founder’s dilemma Very often, the people that got the company off the ground become the

largest hurtle to future success - there is no more gut wrenching but potentially fatal issue faced by young, growing companies

Communicate Be candid – give them the benefit of the doubt until they prove otherwise Tell them what is going on as well as your take on things

Have fun Provide opportunities for people to remember that they like and respect

each other - get together outside work from time to time

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Keeping a Great Team Great

Longevity can breed excellence Good teams get better over time VC’s prize teams with prior experience Note that longevity can also breed complacency

Manage the results, not the actions Directing actions rather than managing to results is a very common

mistake by rookie executives (and by human beings in general)

Instill a sense of ownership VTP’s operate best when they have a real sense of ownership over the

results (and I don’t mean stock options)

Compensate and recognize people differently Avoid treating everyone the same – great people are motivated by the

opportunity to stand out from their peers Review them regularly

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Factors that Drive Job Satisfaction

1 full appreciation for work done 82 feeling “in” on things 103 help on personal problems 94 job security 25 good wages 16 interesting work 57 promotion and growth 38 management loyalty to workers 69 good working conditions 410 tactful disciplining 7

Organization and Work EnvironmentMotivation Factor Analysis by Manpower

Employee’s Managers Viewpoint Viewpoint

Note: #1 is most important on list # 10 is least importantNote: #1 is most important on list # 10 is least important

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Conclusions

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Conclusions

The single most powerful competitive weapon in the world of business is a great team

A well oiled group of B players will always beat a loose confederation of A+ resumes

Hiring great people is an executive function, not HR

Really great people have unique needs – if you can meet them, you can build a world class team

Questions?