Mercury Grove is a small core team and we rely on partnerships with great people to deliver our software. I believe that we are seeing an unprecedented rise in the independent “consultant”
fueled largely by online professional networking tools that make it easy for people to self-promote to a large number of people – like LinkedIn, and Elance.
I have met many entrepreneurs who are frustrated by the independence of “new age” workers and try to fight this trend by creating innovative working relationships and environments – some with great success. Alternatively, at Mercury Grove we try to build relationships with different people on different projects where our objectives align. Although we don’t develop a traditional employer / employee relationship, this setup has allowed us to build some great software, develop long-term relationships, and have a lot of fun.
However, as all entrepreneurs know, it is not easy building a great team.
Below are a list of personal attributes that I look for in people when building a team.
- People who keep their egos ‘in check’.
I look for people who can tie their own motivations to the team’s objective, and focus on the end goal, not “taking over” the team. I really dislike babysitting or refereeing as a manager, and I find that people’s egos cause a lot of conflict within teams. - People who are builders not exploiters.
Its important to me to find people who want to work on your project because they see how they can contribute to make it better and achieve something great, not people who are looking to improve their resume. - People who have the capacity for greatness.
I want to surround myself with people who are able to accomplish great things. I want to work with people who will reach a little further or try something different to achieve something great. - People who have the tendency to push limits.
I love working with people who have the tendency – a habit for doing new and exciting things. People “tend” to do the same thing over an over again. And I try hard to separate the “habit of trying to achieve” with success. - People who are fun to be around
I love working with fun people. It makes my life better.
Those are the personal attributes that I look for in people when building a team. I approach team building equally from a role (technical skills) and a personal (personality) approach when trying to create the “A” team.
What qualities are important to you in the people you work with?
