Case study #5: How to Build a Team From Scratch

Work together.

Working with people you can choose is a dream.

In most cases, you do not have such a luxury. You have to work with everyone. That can be a real pain in the neck. Adam, however, received an offer he could not refuse. I bet you would vote for it too.

Adam was a Millennial manager who led multiple teams in the past. He usually took them over from other promoted managers. It was common in a corporate environment.

One day, though, his boss called him to his office. The boss talked about the need to build up a team. He felt Adam was the man for the job. “Build a team from scratch.” He could pick people internally or hire new employees.

Adam’s head was spinning. He was excited. But there was so much to do and think about. There was no need for this team to follow the current rules but to create new ones instead. It was an incubator that onboarded upcoming businesses. If he had succeeded, his team would train others in the future.

The quest was on.

What do you need to build a team from scratch? Where would you start?

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Cut the veggies before you cook

Teams are everywhere. However, teams are people working alone while sharing space and a manager. Or?

Theorists of management define a team as a group of people working together to achieve a task that would not be achieved by an individual.

If you need to lift an 80kg box out of the ground, you might fail alone. But with a pair of extra hands, it should not be a problem. The team is made up of a collective effort and a collective goal.

Teams should always make sense. Adam realized that. So, his first thought was to come up with:

• A vision: what you're hoping to achieve

• A purpose: why the team exists, what it believes in, and what values are shared

• A plan: where you are now and how to get to fulfill the vision

Agenda can be appealing, but having a purpose motivates others to join your team.

Capacity and skills planning

How many people do you need? Building a team from scratch is tricky. Estimating hours can be like reading from a crystal ball. Yet, it would help if you had at least some ideas about it.

Adam was in favor of starting small. He knew he would need to teach his team and be hands-on before delegating strategic work. If you hire too many people, it is always a mess when processes are not established.

Skills can be taught. So, how do you hire people for a new team? Based on the vision and shared values.

You are at point A and want to get to point B. What skills can get you there? Some you may find internally, and some you need to source from outside. But building a team is never a guessing game. Search for flexible people with transferable skills.

Involvement and engagement

When initial hiring was done, Adam started to plan how to organize his newly hired team.

Many leaders decide to keep decisions in their hands. It might be an effective decision in the short term but ineffective in the long term.

How would you describe a team you would like to be a part of?

The typical answers are supportive, easy-going, fun, friendly, motivating, etc. How do you do it? Not by telling people what to do.

Instead, Adam decided to involve his new team members in some decisions straightaway. A few things made a big difference:

• Team lunches: Every week one team member picked and booked a place to visit as a team.

• Team organization: Adam suggested a few processes for informing the team about running late, doctors, etc., to keep everyone up to date. Yet, he always asked if the team found it OK and reasonable or what they would suggest.