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Almost all companies require collaboration within the team to get work done. Even if cross‐functional collaboration isn't required for each person's primary responsibilities, teams still need to collaborate on effective practices and processes to achieve their shared goals. Many companies only focus on team development at the leadership team level, and then on team “building” for other teams. All teams benefit from having support and intention around how they operate and interact. Skills built around team development for the core team also help each individual be a better team member when they work cross‐functionally.

At startup level the most important team is the leadership team, as they impact the entire company. It's absolutely critical that the leadership team build a high level of trust and the ability to have productive conflict. There's always going to be conflict; it's unavoidable. But it doesn't have to be debilitating or result in damaged relationships. If there are high levels of trust, conflict can be extremely helpful to the team. There are many tools and assessments you can use to help with team diagnostics, and the most impactful, and simple, tool I've used is Patrick Lencioni's book, The Five Dysfunctions of a Team. (Lencioni's book, The Advantage, combines his thinking in both the prior books I mentioned (Death by Meeting and The Five Dysfunctions of a Team), as well as introducing an annual planning framework that we adopted and modified at Return Path with great success). Do yourself and your company a favor and take the 5‐minute assessment every quarter, evaluate the results as a team, and agree to the development you need to make the team successful. The type of development the team requires depends on the results of the survey: if you score low on trust, work to deepen relationships. If you score low on conflict, understand the underlying reasons, and then offer coaching or development on conflict. Having a highly functioning leadership team sets the stage for having a highly functioning organization. Without that, it's very difficult to keep teams aligned and working together effectively.

In addition to building an effective leadership team, you may also facilitate strategy development and planning discussions or offsites. Some of the most impactful work you do will be to help your leadership team have deep conversations on business strategy. Strategy development discussions are not just straightforward conversations and it's crucial to build an agenda that helps drive toward your goals. It's often helpful to partner with someone outside the team to help build agendas and facilitate offsites, so that you can participate fully. At Return Path, we worked with executive coach Marc Maltz for almost the entire lifespan of the company. Marc helped us to build and adapt the leadership team over time, coached our CEO, individual team members, and the team as a whole.

Once you have a high functioning leadership team, it's much easier to build high functioning teams who report to them. Teams at the startup stage are often very cross‐functional and the more you can help all individuals build the skills and practices to work effectively as team members, the faster they can make an impact on the teams that they join.

Picture a scaleup of 50 people. All employees report to a leadership team member. Some teams are small and each individual wears multiple hats. Even larger teams don't always have a standard role. Everyone knows each other. If these cross‐functional teams don't have the skills to communicate with each other effectively, and they let their egos get in the way, even small conflict becomes painful and takes an emotional and productivity toll. If the teams all have the tools to set up effective operating systems and are able to communicate effectively, small conflicts can easily be handled between teams or people, making the team quickly productive.

For teams that work together regularly, treat them as an intact team, and follow the same steps from the “Five Dysfunctions” process that you did for the leadership team. Because all team members have a common language and skills, often the focus is on team dynamics and calling those to the surface. These skills also help teams be more inclusive. Working with people who come from different backgrounds and cultures requires more effective communication and inclusive practices such as ensuring that everyone has a chance to speak up at meetings, and that quieter people aren't ignored.

When team membership changes with a new hire or a change in role, take the opportunity to talk about your team operating system and dynamics and build new relationships and dynamics where appropriate. As Matt says, “Every time you add or lose a team member, you have a new team.” At Return Path, we had every new employee take a Strengthsfinder assessment, and they used that to introduce themselves to the team. That helped to build trust quickly.