Building teams

Have you ever got a job offer for offering a seat on a bus?
Or, perhaps, opening a door for a lady? The other day, standing in the back of a crowded bus, I watched a young man get up and offer his seat to a senior gentleman who was standing in the aisle. The youth was doing something that came very naturally to him. He probably did it every day and never looked for a reward. This time it was different.
As soon as he got up, a man wearing a tie stepped up to the young man and handed him his card. He asked the young man if he would like to work with him. The youth was stunned by this impromptu interview, but he accepted the card.
Finding good people to equip your team is tough. We can’t be too stringent, as we are very often in a hurry to arm ourselves while growing and taking on new projects. Also, we never seem to get people with the right set of skills. The safest qualification seems to be to “do what you are told”. This, however, is a stumbling block for companies that are driven by fresh ideas. Very often we find ourselves taking on what we can.
One chief executive officer of a major Indian IT company was of the opinion that the stricter the hiring process, the less of a problem it will be to have to leave people behind. However, at the start-up level, many entrepreneurs just settle for what they can get. At a recent event aimed at entrepreneurs in IIT-Delhi this question emerged repeatedly across sessions — how do I go about recruiting for my team? Many of them made hasty decisions and took on anyone who could write codes and had a LinkedIn account.
One seasoned entrepreneur pointed it out in a rather succinct manner, “You basically need two qualities. First, look for people who speak their mind, and second, look for those who admit when they are in the wrong.”