Shiny Happy People

Happy Friday Friends,

It’s obvious, the most important thing in our business is our customers. 
But, a close second is the people in our company. 

Even with the emergence of AI, it’s still hard to build a successful business without surrounding yourself with smart, driven humans. Also way less fun!
People are the most challenging part of any business but, they are also the most rewarding part.

When I finished university (too many years ago) I took an internship working in an advertising agency. I studied graphic design, branding and communication so an agency was the logical next step.
It lasted 6 months and I hated every single moment I spent there.

There were 2 main reasons why I left.
The first was that I hated sitting behind a desk all day and not interacting with customers. The second reason, and the theme for this newsletter was the culture in the company. There was no culture at all. 

Another graphic designer, a copywriter, myself and a few others were just bums in seats. There was little engagement from the CEO or anything resembling management. 
I clocked in, did the work for a client I never spoke to and clocked out.

Shoot me, please!

I swore as a manager, executive leader and then founder I would never let that happen in any company I worked in or created.

I have been deliberate and conscious about the people I work with. From hiring to retention and even firing. I make an effort to create a culture and environment that people enjoy being part of.

This leads us nicely into Phase 1 of Where to Begin? 
Last week we set the basic template for the 30/6-/90 Plan. This week we’ll dive into the People category and touch on 3 key strategies I have used over the years.

1. Understanding and setting up your “org”

2. Functional Accountability

3. Process Accountability

The full templates are available by hitting the button at the end of the article.

People and Our “Org”

First, we make a basic list of the current people in the company, their roles & departments. This is part of the research & learning. We’re not making judgements here, we’re gathering the lay of the land.

We can then draw up a flow chart to help understand who reports to whom and the size of each department. (Google Draw, Lucid Chart, Miro - all work for this).

If you’re building a startup I’d avoid this to begin with. You want your org to be as flat as possible. Middle management does not help scale a company in the early days - hiring smart people does.

There are hundreds of ways to build org charts. Some are complicated and fancy but in my opinion, it isn’t worth the effort. The org chart is mainly used for new employees who never look at it. 

A basic table will do.

Next, we’ll move on to a piece that is way more beneficial than standard org charts.

Function Accountability Table

The objective of this table is to help us answer a very important question.
Do we have the right people doing the right things at the top of the organisation? 

Let’s Build It

1. Build a table with a list of functions in the company.

2. Now complete the table by filling in the person/s responsible for that function.

3. In the last column add some high-level leading indicators for each function. These could be KPIs or key metrics you’ll use to assess that function.

Functions focus on jobs that need to get one, not necessarily titles.

4. Once complete you’ll want to review the table for the following.

• Is there more than one person in a seat?

• Is a person in more than one seat?

• Are there empty seats?

The function accountability table will evolve with your company. At each stage, it’s important you make this a live, shared document. The entire company should have access and know who sits where.

Process Accountability Table

This is where we identify key processes that drive the business. Processes can cut across multiple functions. We will want to review this quarterly or at most 6 months. 

As the company becomes more mature we can replace the function of this table with OKRs. 

1. Create a table with a list of the top 6-10 processes the company needs to focus on this quarter. Remember, less is more.

2. Add the person accountable next to each process.

3. In the final column add 2-3 leading indicators or high-level KPIs to assess the process.

This table works well in smaller scaleups where we won’t have a head for each department. We can even run the completion of this table as a company workshop, everyone can contribute and put their hands up. You never know who may be interested in leading a process.
Remember we review every quarter so we can change the process or owner then.

Meeting Cadences & Rituals

So, we’ve reviewed who works in the business and who is accountable for the most important functions for driving growth.

We now want to review how the company thinks about and executes meetings; both group and individual meetings. There are millions of ways to pluck this chicken and each company will have different needs. The important thing here is to put a few semi-hard rules in place to avoid confusion and chaos. 

Because meetings are chaos and productivity killers!

The following are my non-negotiable meeting needs in a business

1. Company updates/ All-hands

2. Team weekly standups 

3. 1:1 meetings (monthly)

And, these are a few rules I live by so we don’t have death-by-meeting

1. No in-house meetings before 12 pm

2. No agenda, no meeting

3. Before you schedule a meeting ask yourself if you can solve the problem asynchronously (message or email). 

More details and templates of the above systems are available at the link below.

Next week we’re talking culture as the last piece of the people review.

Peace, love and growth.
Jarren

PS - Let’s Win Together

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