Do You Have a Hall Pass?

Growing up, I was a model child. A model daughter, a model student, I did what I was told, obeyed the rules, and always asked permission. Permission to go to the movies, permission to rearrange my bedroom furniture, permission to go to the bathroom at school. I was taught that obedience and deference were positive qualities, that they made me a "good girl." I believe my kindergarten report cards contained some measurement of my ability to "take direction" and "fit in socially," and my entire experience in the public school system was based on steering me towards the path of normalcy via standardized testing and groupthink.

This isn't an uncommon experience. You spend your most formative years in supplication to the world around you, so as an adult it quickly becomes apparent that the skills you've learned have not necessarily prepared you for being a confident and contributing member of society. For your whole life, you have been trained to obey, not to blaze your own path. You've been taught to take direction and follow the leader, skills that are still valued and rewarded by many companies who need drones to stay alive. These companies are large. They are lucrative. They are old. They thrive on hiring the adults who were once recipients of perfect attendance and citizenship awards in primary school.

But they are not doing anything particularly interesting.

As an entrepreneur, you have diverged from the path, probably because you saw a shortcut, or a more scenic route, or maybe you were wearing Nikes so you could run ahead of the pack. Either way, you did something a bit differently, and you're on your right path now; it's time to build out your company with the right people to help take you from inception to sustainability.

Please don't hire the drones.

Creative problem-solver

When people hear the word entrepreneur, they often imagine an individual who starts their own business. Entrepreneurs are intelligent, they are leaders, they enjoy taking risks, and they see the world differently than other people. They can see problems, and they can see ways to solve them. There are many people with these qualities who do not start companies. Hire these people. Develop your employees into being these people.

Anyone who has read The Lean Startup (and you should) or been a part of a failed company knows that founders and executives don't always make the right call. The wrong products are pushed or they don't see the possible consequences of the decisions they've made. When you have one leader and a bunch of followers, the leader only has herself to rely on when it comes to big decisions. That thought can be incredibly appealing, but it's also fairly dangerous. You're as limited as your own knowledge and experience, and your own ability to see potential problems before they become disasters. Surround yourself with knowledgeable, capable, innovative thinkers, and your own limitations can no longer stand in the way of the company's success.

This isn't always easy to do. Most startups and established tech companies profess to nurture such environments through open office spaces, open door policies, and whiteboard paint on the walls, but I have found that the majority of these are surface-level commitments to creativity, transparency, and communication. Just because the physical walls are down does not mean the mental walls have followed. A lot of potential is being wasted because creative, talented employees are too bogged-down in the mire of office politics to speak up when they see a problem or, more importantly, take the reins to develop a solution. More often than not, the culture of permission we have cultivated within our youth ends up backfiring in the workplace. We have all been privy to office gossip, the most damaging of which comes from the "followers."

Followers, after a lifetime of frustration, believe themselves to be martyrs, sacrificing their time working for a company that "just doesn't get it," or managers who "never listen." They complain, breed anger and resentment, and believe themselves to have all the answers. If only someone would see that and give them a management position, all of the company's problems would be solved, right? We've all worked with that guy. Some of us have been that guy. If they really have all of the answers, they should be doing something about it, not just yakking away to their peers about how they wish they could do something about it. It's one thing to spot problems and complain about them, it's another to spot them and solve them. This guy is no better than the office drone who never complains, but also never does anything but wait for the next assignment, either.

As you hire, you will inevitably come across the follower disguised as a leader; sometimes, all it really takes is a little freedom and respect to bring out their full potential. But, just as with any other relationship, once that person regards you or your company with contempt, the situation is unfixable. A loss of respect on either side in the workplace is impossible to correct with anything other than a gentle parting of ways; the longer you wait, the more likely their malice is to spread to their lunch mates. But assuming you're actively weeding out the bad eggs and hiring with leadership qualities in mind, the next step is to create an office culture that can allow leaders to flourish.

It's up to you, the company founder and leader, to dispense with ego and make it part of the culture that no one individual or team is God, and that the voice of dissent needs to be acknowledged. Instill in your company leaders and in yourself the values of trust and respect, and remember you're hiring people who will have a major effect on the success of your company. Give them the room they need to make the best contributions of which they are capable -- it will develop a team of loyal, talented, fulfilled employees. Not every employee can be a leader, but make sure you don't have any LINOS -- Leaders In Name Only.

Free them up to experiment, to make mistakes, to find unconventional solutions to problems, to take risks, and reward them when they do. As an entrepreneur, you know the road to success is often paved with small failures and the skeletons of incomplete ideas. Surround yourself with individuals who will ultimately make your company stronger, not simply toe the line. Your investors are willing to bet on you, that your idea, talent, and work ethic will make for a successful company. They don't want to have to step in and run it themselves, they trust you to do that. You, in turn, need to be treating your employees like investments -- give them the freedom and the support, and you will see a great ROI.

Let me know how it goes.

Jen

P.S. I'll be reading the suddenly wildly popular Holacracy this month and I'll be back to report on it. I'm pretty sure I'll love it.