Working Together to Build Your Venture

One of the principles we mentioned in Challenge Studio is that entrepreneurship is a team sport. Having a great team is also one of the things Sam Altman mentioned is essential to building a venture. This means that in your entrepreneurial journey, you will be working with others to bring this idea to life.

In this section, we’ll spend some time talking about what it means to work with others to build your venture. This is important because, starting this week, you’ll form a team and submit your first task as a group. Throughout the rest of this course, you will have weekly group submissions that require you to collaborate, contribute, and work effectively together.

This section will set expectations on what it means to work effectively together, some challenges you might face, and how to overcome those challenges. Before we get into this section’s content:

❓ Reflect on the following questions, and share your experiences in the padlet below:

• Think of a team experience where you felt the most productive, and your team was the most effective. What three things made this team effective?
• Think of a team experience where you felt the least productive, and your team was not effective. What three things made this team ineffective?

What is a team, and what makes a high-performing one?

A team is a set of individuals working collaboratively to achieve a common purpose. In your case as entrepreneurs, we assume that you work together towards building and delivering a solution to a problem you’ve identified and feel passionate about solving. However, your passion and quest for a common goal might not be enough to unleash your team’s full potential.

📺What this video to learn what it takes to make a team high-performing.

For a team to be effective, you should have:

• A shared passion. In an effective entrepreneurship team, shared passion is the driving force that unites team members toward a common goal. Passion is the intense enthusiasm and commitment that individuals bring to their work, fueled by a genuine belief in the value of the venture. When team members share a passion for the mission, they are more likely to persevere through challenges, inspire creativity, and foster a positive working environment.
• A sense of purpose. A sense of purpose gives your entrepreneurship team a clear understanding of why they are starting the venture. It goes beyond making profits and delves into the positive impact the team aims to create. Having a strong sense of purpose not only inspires team members but also attracts customers, investors, and partners who align with the mission. This shared understanding of purpose provides direction, guides decision-making, and shapes the team's identity.
• An understanding of your role. In an effective entrepreneurship team, each member understands their specific role and how it contributes to the overall success of the venture. Clarity in roles reduces confusion, enhances efficiency, and promotes accountability. When everyone knows what is expected of them and how their contributions fit into the broader picture, collaboration becomes smoother, and the team can play to each member's strengths.
• Trust and effective coordination. Trust is the foundation of effective teamwork. High-performing teams cultivate trust among members by demonstrating reliability, integrity, and competence. Trust enables seamless coordination and collaboration, as team members feel confident in each other's abilities and intentions.

These elements matter because they make the team strong, united, and excellent at executing. Passion keeps everyone excited, purpose gives direction, and understanding roles and trusting each other helps everyone work together smoothly.

📺 Let’s also hear from Simon Sinek what makes the highest performing teams.

On top of having passion, purpose, and knowing your role, Simon Sinek mentions that the highest-performing teams thrive when there is a willingness to be there for each other.

Working effectively as a team: The Stages of Team Formation

Before each team gets to a point of being there for each other, they go through some stages of development. A helpful model is this one by Bruce Tuckman called the stages of team formation.

❓Before you watch the video, guess what each stage is and what it means: Forming. Storming. Norming. Performing. Adjourning.

Share your thoughts in the padlet below.

📺 Watch this video to learn about the stages of team development.

As mentioned in the video, the Tuckman model of team development is a popular framework used to understand the stages that teams go through as they work together towards a common goal. Developed by Bruce Tuckman in 1965, the model consists of five stages: forming, storming, norming, performing, and adjourning. Each stage is marked by unique characteristics, challenges, and opportunities for growth. By understanding the Tuckman model, teams can better navigate the ups and downs of working together and ultimately achieve greater success.

The first stage, forming, is a period of testing and orientation in which members learn about each other and evaluate the benefits and costs of continued membership. During this stage, the team focuses their energy on task development by creating clear goals, structure, direction and roles to begin creating trust among the team members. It's a time when individuals may be polite, defer to authority, and try to find out what is expected of them and how they will fit into the team. The behaviour of the team is a reflection of their excitement about the new team and the uncertainty or anxiety they might be feeling about their place on the team.

The second stage, storming, is marked by interpersonal conflict as members become more proactive and compete for various team roles. Members try to establish norms of appropriate behavior and performance standards. During this stage, the team develops tasks to redefine the goals and conflict management. It's possible that the team could become less polite due to frustration and disagreements.

The third stage, norming, is where the team develops its first real sense of cohesion as roles are established and a consensus forms around group objectives and a common or complementary team-based mental model. The team focuses their energy on their goals and productivity. During this stage, the team develops an increased sense of comfort by expressing their ideas, feelings, and constructive criticism for the team’s success. Members are more conscious of the effort and achieve group harmony.

The fourth stage, performing, is where the team members have learned to efficiently coordinate and resolve conflicts. In high-performance teams, members are highly cooperative, have a high level of trust in each other, are committed to group objectives, and identify with the team. The team accomplishes the tasks and celebrates the progress. During this stage, the team experiences a feeling of satisfaction and shares insights into personal and group processes. They feel attached to the team and feel confident they behave with a doing attitude and are more fluid among members.

The fifth and final stage, adjourning, occurs when the team is about to disband. Team members shift their attention away from task orientation to a relationship focus. During this last stage, the team's feelings might be concerns and anxiety because of the uncertainty of the future. The team focuses the tasks in three sections – completion of deliverables, evaluation, and closing.