BVE Life Sciences Venture Capital Blog Ross Obrien Building Teams

Building Teams, Part I 

I'm not the smartest fellow in the world, but I can sure pick smart colleagues.  - Franklin D. Roosevelt

As the year winds down, my team and I are assessing 2020 and finalizing our goals for Q1 of 2021. Throughout this process, something occurred to me. I have worked with each core team member for a period of 5-10 years, which totals ~30+ years of relationships. My firm, like others, has experienced its fair share of turnover, but the core team remains the same dedicated, high-achieving individuals. How did we get here? I've narrowed it down to two key actions and one recommendation.

  • Key Action #1: Empower your team to make decisions and lead in your absence and presence. This is hard for me as I am always ready to jump in to help my team, but I have found walking away is oftentimes the most helpful thing I can do. Is it uncomfortable? Yes. Does it give my team room to breathe and prove themselves? Yes.

  • Key Action #2: Allow your team to struggle and potentially fail. I choose to be hands off as appropriate and therefore accept the risk of failure. But not once has my core team let me down. They always bounce back and come through. Is it uncomfortable? Yes. Does it give my team room to breathe and prove themselves? Yes.

  • Recommendation: Embrace the "carbon copy" and Slack (or similar). I don't want any extra emails, but when my team chooses to "CC" me, I know it's meaningful and purposeful. They are providing me the visibility I need. Utilizing Slack (or similar) is another means to stay connected, create a paper trail for reference, and allows for the informal office banter that we miss given our new working arrangements.

If 2020 has revealed anything, it's that who you choose to share valuable time and resources with has never been more important. As a leader, I empower my team to lead their respective areas, I create "space to fail" (that is rarely used), and in turn have built relationships that span decades. Given that, stay tuned to our next issue where I discuss my hire slow and fire fast philosophy.