Homogeneous Teams

Should I seek opportunities or comfort?

This question is the foundation and starting line for any person seeking to learn about themselves and the world. In an era of globalized connections, we find ourselves more divided. This may be due to the surplus of information flowing through the average person’s mind daily or the inclination as humans to dismiss new information that contradicts our existing viewpoints. Whatever the cause, we frequently see people surrounding themselves with others that are similar to them. This phenomenon can be beneficial in situations, while subsequently harming the progression and creativity of individuals in others. Does this prerequisite thwart the possibility of surrounding ourselves with the best possible team for our venture?

The common phrase that “friends are the family you choose” is even more true in the case of cofounders in a business. If the business is your baby, then it is important to consider who your “co-parent” is going to be. In the case of most businesses, the comfortable thing to do is control the principal influences through the recruitment of individuals that share similar ideals and values. Entrepreneurs constantly fall victim to comfort and align themselves with friends and family to minimize conflicts. This decision can be important in the early goings of a firm because it allows the founding team to bypass the stage where personalities collide. According to Bruce Tuckman’s stages of group formation, a team made of members sharing similar minded members can bypass the forming and storming stages and move directly into norming. This means that the team can move directly into delegation of roles and begin implementing the founder’s business plan. These likeminded individuals will encounter reduced interpersonal confrontations in their pursuit of mutual goals.

In contrast, a diverse team comprised of assorted skills and experiences will have trouble in the early stages. Conflicting motivations and values can interfere with the startups initial entrance into the market. The benefits of a diverse team come into play later in the venture, enriching and enhancing the company’s ability to grow and adapt to market forces. In addition, with diversity comes a large range of skills, more innovation and key access to extensive networks. These networks make it easier to establish relationships with investors, other corporate players in the industry and to expand the firms access to “A- player” employees.

            As discussed in my previous blog post, social and financial capital are both imperative resources to any startup. The diverse team offers both additional intangible resources and a supplementary extensive network to facilitate future company growth. In a Guide to Managing Growth: Turning success into even bigger successes, Rupter Merson references a study carried out on entrepreneurs in the 1980’s. In the study only 12% of entrepreneurs attribute the success of their ventures to an extraordinary idea. The other 88% said that success was due to “exceptional execution of ordinary ideas”. With the pressure of the venture falling on a team of likeminded individuals, a firm may lack the ability to change and adapt. This can cause the team to miss opportunities and damage its ability to execute the business plan diligently.

            This begs the next question as to whether diversity should be emphasized in the founding team or preliminary employees. In Erik Herrenkohl’s book, How to Hire A-Players, he proposes that bringing in seasoned veterans after the launching of the venture can alleviate the workload and offer industry knowledge that may be unavailable among prospective cofounders. He subsequently proposes that successful firms must be the best at “recruiting” these “A-Players”. This would suggest that the ideal team, whether brought on originally or post launching, recedes outside of the founder’s inner circle. Wasserman seems to agree, when he points out the astronomical probability that two or more of the key players, necessary to best facilitate a firm’s growth, come from the same family or social circle.

Thus, I conclude that this same mentality should be applied to the creation of a founding team. If a firm was made up entirely of individuals that share the same experience, then the founder presumably hasn’t expanded their horizons to embrace those able to offer imperative perspectives to headlong the firm’s development. Therefore, the best course for any novice entrepreneur is to encourage diversity to encounter critical conflicting or complimenting opportunities.

Always remember, “True self-discovery begins where your comfort zone ends.”

Seek the discomfort and embrace diversity!!!

References

Wasserman, N. (2012). The Founder’s Dilemmas: Anticipating And Avoiding The Pitfalls That Can Sink A Startup. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. 

Herrenkohl, E. (2010). How to hire A-players finding the top people for your team – even if you don’t have a recruiting department. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.

Lahm, R. (2005). Starting Your Business: Avoid the “Me Incorporated” Syndrome. Retrieved from. https://ezinearticles.com/?Starting-Your-Business:-Avoiding-the-Me-Incorporated-Syndrome&id=84345

Rupert Merson- Guide to Managing Growth: Turning successes into even bigger successes