7 Core Qualities to Grow Yourself and Your team

TLDR Personal growth and development should be an integral part of your business. It applies to founders and entrepreneurs as well as your team. Use this simple framework to help you fulfil your passion. Watching your team and grow and develop is the most fun you will ever have

Rosemarkie, an image of my summer in 2018

When I listen to founders and entrepreneurs, the most common questions are about growth, investment and people. 
 
People covers the widest range of different areas. When to hire? Who to hire? What skills are needed? How much to pay? Improving team performance. Setting objectives. Paying bonuses. Managing people who don’t deliver. Relationships with cofounders. Working with investors. Handling non executives and advisors. That’s at least 10 problems and four or five different groups of people. 
 
There is one person missing from every question on this list. You. You are an intimate part of every decision you face as an entrepreneur. That applies to people, growth and investment. Yet when I listen to you, I hear almost nothing about personal growth and development.

An unbreakable addiction

This is a bit strange for me. I spent most of my career working for an organisation where growing and developing myself was an integral part of the culture. Over thirty years it became an unbreakable addiction. I can’t make any decision without thinking about what I will learn and how I can improve.
 
Its sometimes difficult to explain to people. I worked in that firm for many years before I realised it myself. I advised clients from many industries and saw few organisations that took a similar approach. Even our peers and competitors did not set much store by it.
 
We did. Hiring, performance evaluation, promotion, admission to partnership. You could not take a step with out demonstrating that you had developed as a person and had plans to grow further.

A simple framework

Its impossible to replicate culture. Its made up of other people sharing unique experiences in a other times and places. However, I thought it was worth sharing one of the threads that held our commitment to personal development together. 
 
At every stage from graduate to senior partner, we used a consistent framework. It was built on a set of core qualities. And we had a simple, shared scale for evaluation. 
 
The framework was divided into 7 broad, overlapping areas. 
 

• Leadership - Motivating teams, Innovation & creativity and Leadership (even in the detail we still didn’t have a better definition.)
• Business skills - Business vision, Commercial awareness, Entrepreneurial approach, Selling skills.
• Technical skills - Product or process knowledge, Execution skills, Industry knowledge, Task/ work handling skills 
• Analytical skills - Identifies issues, Prioritises, Draws effective & sound conclusions
• Management skills - People management skills, Communication skills, Planning & organising capability
• Individual social & business interaction - Negotiation skills, Influences/ builds relationships, Team work, Energy/ impact/ gravitas
• Personal & professional development 
  

 
The idea is to understand your strengths and weaknesses on each of these points. You make a self assessment on a four point scale:
 

1. Exceeds expectations of the next level above your current position in most respects
2. Meets expectations of the next level in most respects
   
3. Meets expectations of the next level in some respects.
   
4. Fails to meet expectations of the next level in most respects.
   

Making it real

The same scale was used for all regular feedback. On assignment reviews, by whoever carried out your performance evaluation, by promotion boards and by HR. The balance shifted over time. More emphasis on acquiring technical skills early in your career. A shift to leadership abilities at more senior levels. 
 
Against each rating, the assessor would put evidence. Evidence had to be examples where the skills had been used in practice. This was a requirement. It applied to self assessment as well. It was always interesting to compare the self assessed evidence with the examples given by other observers. 
 
The core qualities and the scale remained consistent long term. Everyone used them so we all developed a common understanding. A few simple features contributed deep and lasting advantages.
 
Different perspectives on the same person measured against the same scale is a powerful tool. It helps maximise performance and engagement.
 
A scale aimed at the next level of responsibility baked ambition and potential into all our dealings with people and teams. 
 
The emphasis on skills ensured a continuing pursuit of excellence and improvement.  You cannot deliver this in a culture of targets and metrics.

The Chairman's View

I hope there is something anyone in any business can learn from these principles. If you are part of a growing startup, I would argue they should be part of your life for 3 main reasons:
 

1. Leadership. Personal example is one part of leadership. If you don’t grow and learn, how can you expect your team to do so?
2. Business growth. The business you have today is different from the business you will lead in a year or three years or beyond. If you don’t grow and learn, then sooner or later you will not be fit for your current job. Never mind the next level in your career.
3. Fulfillment. Both the hardest and the easiest part. You started your business because of your passion. Learning new things and making them work in the real world is the best way to nurture that commitment. Watching your team and grow and develop is the most fun you will ever have.