I read on this week on @avc's /Fred Wilson's blog that a CEO has only 3 jobs: set vision and strategy, constantly recruit/hire/motivate, and make sure the company never runs out of money. Recently I have thought a lot about #2, especially how to motivate people.
Assuming the NakedPizza concept works like I think it will, we are going to grow like crazy, which requires laying groundwork, which requires people. Check. I have a lot of people working for me, but actually, none of them actually work for me.
That is, we have a real estate broker building a site pipeline, architects driving plans for store #1 and store #2, law firms driving contracts and permitting, a franchisor, a large group of investors with time, energy and expertise, an accounting firm whose gravitas lent credibility to my business at a crucial stage, vendors trying to help get me open on time and on budget, and a small army of people motivated by the cause to offer their time.
In grappling with this (growing) army of vendors and volunteers, I have fallen back on a few very simple principles:
- Define a compelling vision/mission/strategy
- Clearly lay out the person's role and goals in bringing that to fruition
- Hold people accountable and make them responsible
These seem to get progressively harder for entrepreneurs. By definition, entrepreneurs believe they have a unique vision, even it's compelling only to them at first. Laying out roles and goals to accomplish something is pretty difficult for many of us (more on these in another blog post). Whole books have been written about roles and goals, so for now, suffice to say, that roles in early-stage growth ventures are tricky because they evolve so quickly, but goals should be clear, specific and achievable.
In my experience though, giving out both accountability and responsibility is absolutely crucial to having motivated teammates. Accountability means "You are the person who wakes up in the middle of night thinking about how to get this goal done." Fair enough. But many entrepreneurs hate to give away responsibility, which means, "You are going to make the intermediate decisions that lead to how this goal is achieved, and I am not."
That is the magic of building a truly scalable organization. First of all, it takes the entrepreneur, and eventually executive, out of the critical path of day-to-day decisions. It turns vendors (and by extension, employees) into partners who feel empowered to accomplish a goal that they understand to be important. Think Starbucks and hospitality - employees there don't have to ask Howard Schultz if they can give you a free drink to replace the one you just dropped - they just do it. It helps unleashes expertise and creativity.
Even more important: it allows them to make mistakes, own them, and learn from them. For the more cynical among you, it makes their mistakes more obvious (as they are not yours) so you can learn from them more quickly.
Quick case study: I want to open store #1 by a certain date. My architects need to know that date and why it's important so they can execute and submit building plans in a timely way. If they know that date, and it's achievable, and they have full responsibility to get it done, they are highly motivated to make it happen. We live in a reputation-driven world, after all. And let's face it - they know *how* better than I do.
Second case study: as a franchising startup, even one with the Krafts as investors, being taken seriously is hard. Enter my accounting firm, who prepared impressive-looking statements to help seal the deal with a skeptical landlord. I didn't tell them exactly what I needed - I described the goal, why it was critical to the mission, and let them know I was counting on them. Done.
So summing up - clear goals + responsibility + accountability = motivation. So far, so good. Now I just hope it works when we have actual employees.
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