You’re leading a startup through a major transition. What tools do you need to make it successful?

From the last 4 years with a start up moving into sustainable I think about words that start with Cs. Culture compass (principles), collaboration with senior leaders, change management that includes lots of flexibility and coffee. I’ve learned a great deal trying to build along side challenging leadership styles and challenging times for employees. Stay focused on the outcomes and that will guide the process.

What I found useful in my consulting work with clients is to lead the “core group” (could be senior leadership and possibly, including other key contributors) through a visioning exercise where they craft their: - ideal state for the future - ambition or aspiration by (a specific year) I use the following questions for the group discussion: - What will be the “north star” of this startup? - How do we describe our ideal state a few years after this change and transition? - Who our key stakeholders and what do we want them to say about us by (a specific year)? The usual result is a powerful statement that captures the group’s vision of the future after the change & transition, one that serves as a binding force that keeps the team focused.

While leading change I feel what is critical and important is an ongoing communication with the teams involved & at large on the progress made. Setting clear miles stones and ensuring everyone is aligned and understands those is important to stay on the track. Celebrate smalls wins and let the team know how they have contributed. Identify areas needing attention on regular basis to sustain the change and to stay the course. Invest in learning basis the identified skill gaps to ensure team is fully equipped to deliver.

The WHY is most important. Everyone wants to know why the transition is happening and when they are not part of the why; they feel they are a victim of change rather than a part of it. Clarify the vision and Why from the leadership and get this shared by the leadership with every member of the startup ... this is the first step - INFORM. From here onwards, you can gradually begin to involve the teams in various transition activities. This involvement will make them a part of the change and they take ownership of the same.

Having used the business model canvas, I find that it is a really great tool to visualise the current business model and organise the leadership's thoughts in understanding what the future state needs to be. From there they can crystallise the business into agreeing the gaps and the actions required to make the change. This should probably be done in a few cycles as the business grows and/ or pivots to meet changing customer needs

I've learned that communication is the key to a successful transition. If communication is lacking, people experience forgetfulness, confusion, or distort data from memory. To this end, it's important to tackle as many forms of communication as possible, including written documentation that keeps people accountable to the transition taking place.

Be persistent and present: - Provide regular updates against timeline and goals. - Conduct regular gut-checks on what's working and what is not working. - Engage in regular roundtable communication with team.

Boost your communication toolbox: Don't rely just on emails and team meetings. Leverage project management tools for real-time progress updates, instant messaging apps for quick questions, and anonymous feedback platforms to address concerns before they turn into roadblocks. Remember, communication isn't one-directional; actively seek employee input and celebrate wins together to keep morale high during the transition.

Keep all lines of communication open, including walking into the CEOs office and asking a question about the change. While formal structured communication is very much needed, the true effectiveness will come from the openness to talk about the change.

In a start-up that's going through change, it's about keeping things clear and simple. In a start-up that's at seed or pre-seed stage, the team typically is somewhere between 2-15 people, so while it is important to ensure that everyone is aware and bought into the change, it is important to keep things simple: - Clearly articulate what is changing and most importantly why - ensure you reinforce that message on an ongoing basis. - As a founder, make sure the communication is 2-way, leveraging the insight and perspective of the full team. - Sharing the key principles that will not change. - Given the limited resources, also communicate what work should stop and what should continue as a result of the changes you are making.

Don't forget that collaboration isn't just about tools – it's about fostering a culture of open communication, trust, and psychological safety. Invest in building diverse, empowered teams who can learn from each other and iterate quickly. Remember, in the chaos of transition, your collective brainpower is your greatest asset.

If using Scrum or any other AGILE framework, it is important to note whilst this is a very effective method of getting work done, it has it's complexities and it takes time for both you and your team to start reaping the rewards. In true AGILE fashion, start by adopting the basic principles of this framework: iterative development via sprints. Make it a focus to work in a timeboxed period and review it's results at the end. Once this basic way of working has been incorporated, focus on other elements such as regular standups, sprint planning, sprint retrospective, etc... It's important to note that the reason we are trying this way of working is so that we are not overburdened with a lot of work all at once, this practical tip may help!

Learning and collaboration is about the team environments we create for this to be effective, about psychological safety. Allowing people to feel safe so that constructive conversations are had about what went well, where we can learn better. Also to foster innovation and growth this is essential. Collaboration and learning should be often, feedback, specific, transparent and immediate to create continuous learning loops.

Agile and scrum are particularly useful in terms of project management deliverables, particularly in a IT context. Less so when you are in the midst of an organization turnaround. Often times, when an organization has failed, been put into receivership, or forced in some type of rehab (PE acquisition, change of ownership, etc.), the most important first lesson to be learned is "what happened and why." Employees often are ashamed and confused that their company failed, fell, or underperformed and they are often paralyzed about making decisions. It's important first from management to seize the communication agenda and show the path ahead so people can stop apologizing and start moving.

I've learned it's important to have consistent creativity sessions where sub-teams come together in the same space to brainstorm new ideas. The facilitation of these meetings is critical so you need to choose a skilled facilitator who knows how to involve different personality types using different educational tools, and for example, knowing how to give introverts time to process and contribute in valuable ways.

Leading change is way more effective when aligned with an organization's culture and values (unless you want to make an organizational-wide culture change). I've learned it's important to identify what the values are. If they are not clear or fully lived out, it's important to identify those gaps and ensure you're integrating those gaps into the change process to tighten up the alignment. During a transition, people will go through lots of various emotions, so it's helpful to keep a company's values at the top of people's minds, always seeking to show compassion while also pointing people back to the why behind the transition.

All start-ups will already have developed a culture and set of values often based on fluid organisational structures, broad job descriptions and rapid promotions that are geared towards problem solving and acquiring resources to deliver rapid growth. For any major transition to be sustainable, the need for more formal infrastructure including processes, controls, supply chain management, quality control and audit will soon become apparent. Mature leadership and foresight is crucial here as the skills required for a successful start-up are very different to those required as the organisation matures. Ideally, a good culture and values can then be nurtured and enhanced by the longer-term building blocks of sustainable growth and success.

My experience has been many start ups fail to develop a formal culture and values. It’s through these major transitions that they become so critical. In addition, a well thought out Mission Statement also is vital. This becomes the guiding light for people in the organization to make decisions.

Change is alway hard in big companies as ways of working are embedded in employees’ minds. However, one of the aspects that is often neglected and would have an important impact over the chance of successfully implement a change is managements transparency and clarity into transmitting the vision and the direction to all involved employees. This type of disclosure is usually done with middle management and then only parts of the strategy and details of the change are communicated to employees that are supposed to actually change their mindset and way of working. Still with no clear direction, objectively presented pros and cons and thoroughly drafted plan and timeline, resilience to change will definitely appear quickly.

Culture will always influence the success of any initiative. Culture has many facets, some of which are known to all and others that only become apparent over time as initiatives/projects/strategy is being implemented. The more clearly values are articulated around trust, honesty, transparency and the better senior leadership role model this and hold themselves and others accountable the more positivity will be generated.

A comprehensive change readiness and sustainability assessment is vital for any successful transition. Tools like the Change Readiness Audit or Change Impact Analysis are instrumental in identifying potential barriers and challenges. They help in mitigating risks and bridging gaps that might impede the transition. Additionally, using the Change Scorecard or Change Dashboard can effectively track and report outcomes. Celebrating achievements and having a Change Sustainability Plan in place ensures the longevity and effectiveness of the change, making sure it's not just a one-time initiative but a sustainable transformation.

The best possible way to assess change readiness is engagement. Surveys are a must. Carefully designed Surveys will ensure to give you a picture of what's coming. Based on the survey results, you can plan on changing the existing strategy or spend more time on engagement and trainings.

Change Impact Analysis, Change Readiness and Change Risk Assessmrnts are critical tools thar allow the identification and management of Change effectively. Change is often like a pebble in a lake, there are ripple effects, better to know whether big or small and make sure we build capability to manage them. Think through, if you're making a change in your customer sales process, fulfilment process or invoicing process, how will it affect your revenues, profitability, net promotor score, etc.

As a start-up founder, when you are leading your team through change, your leadership will determine the success. My top tips are: - Change is a team sport, engage your leadership team and the wider team in defining the way forward. - Clearly communicate your expectations but most importantly the why behind the change. - Focus not just on the "what" but especially on the "how" - dive change in a way that engages people, motivates people and gets everyone pulling in the same direction. - Be authentic and don't be afraid to ask for help. Sometimes a mentor or coach can be super useful in helping you better navigate times of change.

Evangelizing anything requires that the messenger has the belief in the message first. Change Management tools can help you with narrowing down the right people to support you in enabling the change. Resistant Management tools can help you identify key resistant stakeholders, however, it is important to note that even the perfect plan cannot convince someone who does not believe in a change, failure in change management is common and a part of the field. A key factor determining success can be your ability to realize this and pivot strategies.

In my experience it is super important that the change management needs also to be communicated from top to bottom. When the "leaders" do not stand behind the new change management, than it will lead into missing trust and willingness for a change. Being open for a change is not that easy for many people, excpecially for them, being for years in the company and working always in the same way. Super important to have a clear communication and work also against the "don′t want changers" by catching them with the why and how and push and pull them towards the change. Every change is also a teamwork and some have just fear for a change or a lack of understanding.

Leader's responsiveness to change is one of the most critical element of transition. James Maxwell said that Leaders adjust the sail of the boat when faced with a storm rather than complaining about it or waiting for the storm to get over. Leaders must take ownership and champion the change across the organization. They got to be comfortable in the face of uncertainty and must give comfort to their team members. Leaders must also create a conducive environment where teams can thrive while facing the change. They must take out time from schedule to listen to the questions/ concerns from the team members and address/ resolve.

For any change whether it’s marginal or major, the best tools to use are; - Open communication with your employees - Involve them in the decision making process - Let them know about the reasons behind this change - Answer their questions with honesty and transparency - share with them the pros and cons - use a collaborative approach to get their buy in You can use any model such as Kotter, avail any tool depending on the circumstances. However, if you fail to address the concerns of your employees, then change will happen albeit resistance and drop in the productivity and morale.

Change the internal dialogue of the organization, and you change everything. Don't change the internal dialogue, and you change nothing. People don't embrace change unless they first change their internal definitions of themselves, their company, and their social contract with their company. 85% of your effort should be directed here. All the other framework, templates, etc. are enabling tools, but little else. Get the messaging around the new social contract and self-definition right, and you will succeed. Get sucked up into frameworks, templates, and methodologies without controlling the internal dialogue, and you're destined to fail.

?? Leading from startup to growth stage 1. I use the 1-page Constancy of Purpose document, including ???Why - customer promise ???Values for decision-making ???Vision + BHAG ??? 3 prioriitized strategies + culture (practices) of execution 2. Founders to lead by example the practices (culture), the how-to ???collaboration, problem solving, high performing teams, group learning 3. Change leadership and transition management required to move through organization life-cycle ???Scarf and neuroscience of change ???Lewin's 3-stages of change ???Kotter's 8-steps of change ???Bridges' 3-stages of change 4. System must be sustainable & scalable ???reward new habits ???meet growth with good quality

One of the key roles of a CFO in a startup is to articulate the trade-offs. How operational decisions impact cashflow is by far the most discussed topic I have with founders/CEOs and the board. Running the different models and ensuring transparency is critical to making sound decision when you’re looking to scale up. Creating a clear financial vision of where the risks and opportunities lie and how to maximize working capital is instrumental in determining the success or failure of a startup.

In my experience, hire the right people but more than anything—hire those that are resilient. It’s a startup—change happens from week-to-week, especially when capital has been raised. Leaders that are cool, calm and collect are important. If the leaders panic, then the employees panic. Expect, the unexpected and remain solution focused.