The Secret to Team Success — Personal Evaluation
Too few startups and teams actually talk together. Like really talk together! Can you handle direct feedback? Are you tough enough?
Have you ever felt like there is some tension within your team, but there’s never the right time to address it? Do you hope time will fix it? You’re not alone. Most startups I know have experienced this. Actually, founder conflicts are the reason for 20% startup deaths at YC! Well, it’s time to change that and let you in on our secret sauce for addressing conflicts at Megacool before they go out of control.
Founder conflicts are the reason for 20% of startup deaths at YC!
My co-founder and I are working really hard together in our Megacool startup. To address potential friction and conflicts that may arise, we have the routine of doing a personal evaluation of ourselves and each other. This is in addition to doing weekly retrospectives, which I’ve covered in another post. It’s one of the toughest, yet rewarding, exercise we do. As we’re under so much pressure during our rollercoaster startup, we do personal evaluation once a month.
Preparation
We each get a couple of post-it notes: two different colors per person, including myself.
- On the first color, I’ll write a name and two plus signs (+). Following each plus sign, I write a positive thing about that person.
- On the other colored post-it, I write a name and two minus signs (-). Following each minus sign, I write constructive feedback.
As a preparation for writing on the post-it notes, I keep a note in Evernote where I add positive and constructive comments between each session as they happen. That way I have a setting to relate the feedback to, and it’s even more actionable for the other party to act on the feedback. It can look like this:
The Show Down
This is not supposed to be comfortable. You never know what the others will actually tell you, nor how you will react to it.
The one to start will begin by sharing his/her two constructive improvements about themselves, followed by the positive ones. Without commenting in between, the rest of the team will take turns on giving feedback. Once everyone has given their feedback, the recipient will comment on the feedback. By the end, the recipient will receive all the post-it notes with comments to keep.
It’s a pre-requisite that every participant is open to suggestions on how to improve.
Post-Evaluation
People are handling the received feedback differently. I usually collect the post-it notes and write an action plan on how to improve. I try to choose 1–3 main focus areas.
If you’re thinking: With just two people, this is easy. It’s not for my organization as we’re too many. WRONG! We started doing this when I worked at Dirtybit with 10 people. It took approximately 2 hours to do, and even when we were working through tough crunch times, we still prioritized doing it.
WHY do you say? I’ve never experienced an activity that has boosted self-confidence as much as doing Personal Evaluation! My colleagues have been surprised about all the positive characteristics their co-workers appreciate about them!
I’ve never done an activity that has boosted self-confidence as much as Personal Evaluation!
Everyone was always leaving with a big smile! And if it was their first time, they would say: “Oh, it wasn’t that bad!” or “I thought it would be way worse!”
When discussing this process with others, some argue that we won’t give honest feedback if there’s something really bothering you about someone else. Well, if you think it’s too critical to address in plenum you should find time to pass on the constructive feedback directly between just the two of you. It probably won’t be solved by itself.
This exercise does require people to be open for input and actually try to work on their “issues” and at the same time do more of what others like about them. This is for people who want to grow.
Being part of an organization that values personal growth and dear to address each other’s greatness and flaws in a constructive manner, is the only organization I want to be part of. I encourage all of you to try this out within your team, management group, or startup. Give it a couple of go’s and you will see that both moral, happiness and output will improve!
This process is also good for crunch time when there might be a lot of tension in the air. Do it to resolve frictions and find solutions, and do it as well right after launching a new product or product version.
I challenge you: Are YOU tough enough for this?
Summary
- What: Personal evaluation of team each member
- How #1: Two colored posit notes per person handed out to each participant
- How #2: Write feedback: 2 positive and 2 constructive (do yourself too)
- When: Once a month for small team // 3–4 times a year for large teams
- Why: Avoid conflicts and address issues early on
Start by adding a personal evaluation slot to your calendar today!
Disclaimer: In Megacool we are a two person team, but it’s important to establish good habits early.
About the Author
Aurora has embarked on her third startup journey, this time across the pond in the heart of the startup world: Silicon Valley. Since 9 out of 10 startups fail, she has been starting 10 with her amazing co-founder @nbroby. She is a nerd about lists and structure. Follow their startup journey, and check out their Megacool products.
