This time, I’m talking about my 20 years of experiences on how to build a great team. I spend the last 18 months on more than 100 interviews to build a great growth team but more than that, we want to build an amazing team for our company Usersnap.
“Better to have an A-team with a B-product, than the other way round.” (unknown) … A great team is the foundation of build great products and a successful company.
We aim to have a lot of seniority in our company, we want to get people onboard from whom we can learn and find those that will shape the future of Usersnap.
Please, don’t forget to subscribe to my mailing list.
The podcast will touch the following topics:
- Values + Goals – why these are the constitution
- Communication
- Hiring
- Collaboration
- Feedback sessions
- Career path
I hope you enjoy this episode of my podcast.
Side notes: I’m thrilled to launch it, although I messed up a bit with the recording and didn’t record the presentation in presentation mode.
But I think I got the audio quite right this time and it can be used for an audio podcast too (this was the initial goal). Thanks to Will and John Ramli, I learned that Zoom has an option for high-fidelity audio and this improved the audio 10x. Thanks!!
I’m intentionally not re-recording the sessions and keep them with their little failures. You never get it right the first time, but it also reminds you how you improved.
Feedback If you have any kind of feedback or suggestions, just contact me on Linked.
Please, don’t forget to subscribe to my mailing list.
Transcription
How to Build a Great Team: The Secret Growth Hack
Building a great team is one of the most important factors for a company’s success. As the founder and head of growth at Usersnap, a user feedback platform, I’ve learned that having the right team in place is even more crucial than having a great idea. With an A-team, you can take a B-product and turn it into an A-product. But the reverse is much harder to achieve.
When I joined Usersnap, one of my first priorities was to assess the existing team and determine if we had the right people and structure in place to execute on our goals. I quickly identified a few key areas that needed attention:
Seniority and Expertise
In the early days of a company, it’s common to start with a team of mostly junior-level employees. While this can work, it also means the founders and more experienced hires become bottlenecks, as they have to train and mentor everyone. To scale effectively, you need to bring on more senior-level talent who can provide leadership and strategic direction.
At Usersnap, we made it a priority to raise the overall seniority level of the team. This meant being more selective in our hiring process and targeting candidates with significant experience and proven track records. It also required us to re-evaluate some of our existing team members and, in some cases, make difficult decisions to part ways with people who weren’t a good fit.
Clear Goals and Alignment
Another critical element of building a great team is ensuring everyone is working towards the same objectives. All too often, teams lack clear, defined goals, which leads to confusion, misalignment, and wasted effort.
To address this, we implemented a structured goal-setting process using the Objectives and Key Results (OKR) framework. This helped us establish company-wide goals, as well as team and individual objectives that laddered up to the overarching priorities. We also made a concerted effort to communicate these goals regularly and ensure everyone understood how their work contributed to the bigger picture.
Fostering Communication and Collaboration
Strong communication and cross-functional collaboration are essential for a high-performing team. At Usersnap, we introduced a few key initiatives to improve these areas:
- Monthly M-Team Updates: This is a company-wide meeting where the leadership team shares information about upcoming plans and initiatives. The goal is to provide clear direction and keep everyone informed about the company’s strategic direction.
- Bi-Weekly Lightning Talks: In these sessions, team members from across the organization have the opportunity to give 5-minute presentations about what they’re working on. This promotes knowledge sharing and helps break down silos between departments.
- Collaborative Project Management: We standardized on tools like Confluence to manage projects and ensure everyone had visibility into the work being done. This also encouraged teams to define goals and strategies together, rather than working in isolation.
These communication channels helped align the team, foster a sense of shared purpose, and make sure no one was operating in a vacuum.
Hiring and Onboarding
Hiring the right people is arguably the most important aspect of building a great team. It’s also one of the most challenging, especially in today’s competitive talent market.
At Usersnap, we’ve developed a multi-step hiring process that includes:
- Initial Phone Screen: A 30-minute call to assess the candidate’s fit and interest in the role and the company.
- In-Depth Interview: A 1.5-hour interview with a peer, where we dive deeper into the candidate’s skills, experience, and cultural alignment.
- Executive Review: A final meeting with the management team to make the hiring decision.
We also put a lot of emphasis on employer branding and using recruiting agencies to help us reach a wider pool of qualified candidates. And once someone joins the team, we have a structured 90-day onboarding plan to help them get up to speed and understand our expectations.
Feedback and Personal Development
Providing regular feedback and supporting the personal growth of team members is crucial for building a high-performing, engaged workforce. At Usersnap, we’ve implemented two key feedback mechanisms:
- Bi-Weekly 1-on-1s: These meetings are focused on the individual’s development, not just operational tasks. We use them to gather feedback, discuss goals, and identify ways we can support each team member’s growth.
- Monthly M-Team Feedback: In these sessions, the leadership team provides structured feedback to each other. We share observations and feelings, rather than interpretations, to have productive conversations about areas for improvement.
In addition, we’ve defined a clear career progression framework with four experience levels (junior, intermediate, senior, and principal). This helps everyone understand where they stand, what they need to do to advance, and how the company can support their development.
The Results
Implementing these strategies has helped us build a strong, high-performing team at Usersnap. We now have a great mix of senior-level talent and promising up-and-comers. Our teams are collaborating effectively on cross-functional projects, and everyone has a clear understanding of our goals and their role in achieving them.
That said, we’re still not perfect. Goal-setting remains an area where we continue to iterate and improve. And while our personal development framework is helpful, there’s always more we can do to support the growth of our team members.
The key takeaway is that building a great team is an ongoing process. It requires constant attention, experimentation, and a willingness to learn from your mistakes. But if you get it right, it can be the secret growth hack that propels your company to new heights.
So, what are you waiting for? Start building your A-team today.
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