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"Joe Hyrkin is CEO at Issuu. He was previously CEO of Reverb as well as Entrepreneur in Residence at Trinity Ventures. He has also held top leadership positions at Gaia Interactive, Yahoo, Flickr and Virage, Inc.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nWe\u2019ve all heard it before: the importance of teamwork. And though we sometimes roll our eyes at the thought of \u201Cteam bonding\u201D the truth is one of the most satisfying things about being part of a startup is, in fact, the team atmosphere.\r\n\r\nAccessing and implementing the ideas of the team in a way that allows for the highest impact is an ongoing challenge, but extremely valuable to any business. As a CEO, I want to hear others\u2019 ideas both about the product and the culture. I want to know the best ideas. I want to understand the challenges. I also want to know how my own messages about our company, culture and plans are being received or not received.\r\n\r\nThere is never a shortage of opinions or thoughts when it comes to working with a team. The challenge is how to capture them in a way that is productive and creates openness to sharing the real ideas and the challenges that people are experiencing day to day.\r\n\r\nOver the years, one practice that I have put into place is a focused bi-annual get together with each person in the company individually. I do this with every single employee regardless of title and role. I ask each person to answer the same set of questions every six months and to give serious thought to each topic and prepare a presentation to review with me. We spend an hour or more and sometimes meet a second time to dig in further. I find that focusing on the same questions provides continuity to examine what is working best and how to address issues that that need to be changed.\r\n\r\nThis process works for start ups and growing teams. At a certain point, one-to-ones with everyone no longer works, but the principle still applies.\r\n\r\nThe questions I ask employees are:\r\n\r\n\tWhat are the three most important components of a company culture for you?\r\n\tDescribe the Company in your own words?\r\n\tWhat is your vision for the Company?\r\n\tWhat do you believe is the Company\u2019s business model?\r\n\tThree things we do now that you like?\r\n\tThree things we do now that you\u2019d like changed?\r\n\tThree things/ideas we should make a priority?\r\n\tThree most important developments in our ecosystem?\r\n\tIn three years what does success look like?\r\n\tIf we could acquire one company, who would it be?\r\n\r\nHearing answers to these questions and the related ideas, and suggestions that accompany them, gives me the opportunity to stay well connected to each employee. \u00A0I get to hear what's working and what isn't. In aggregate, I get a clear pulse on how we're doing and what we need to do to stay focused and unify further. It also creates a strong bonding time with each employee and gives us a forum to hear each other and build on throughout the next six months.\r\n\r\nSetting aside this time with individual team members also creates a way for new employees to contribute from the start. These are questions that can be answered with or without experience and often are just as useful and meaningful when a new employee starts.\r\n\r\nThe most valuable component of these sessions is that I get to listen and learn \u2013 one of the more important things for CEOs to continue doing. Sometimes the most important thing a CEO can do is just shut up and let other's talk. \u00A0Learning how to hear both the specifics of what is being said and what underlies those issues is one of the greatest challenges of leadership.\r\n\r\nEvery team has a captain, and as executives it\u2019s our job to play that role, but true leadership means engaging your team at all levels. It\u2019s about listening to them, not just hearing them. There are a lot of simple ways to make your employees feel valued. It\u2019s each captain\u2019s responsibility to find what works best for them.\r\n\r\nImage credit:\u00A0Aliisa Piirla/AFP/Getty Images"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://thenextweb.com/entrepreneur/2013/09/21/ceos-need-to-be-team-players-too/>