In late 2018 and early 2019, I was wrestling with the transition from founder to CEO when running SocialWithin. This is a hard transition for most if not all founders. SocialWithin went from 3 to 27 people in 18 months. In a professional services company, you have to fundamentally rethink your people/process/tools when you add over two dozen people to your team in a short time frame. These were exciting times, but I was working 15 hours/day, on average, and felt like my time was spent on too many tactical items.
I wrote this how to work with me doc to help manage the team. It provided clarity to my direct reports, improved quality of 1:1s and overall helped the team get in a rhythm with me.
Too often, we see people playing social games within organizations (large or small) and time gets wasted just trying to learn how to work with someone… minimize that and focus on things that actually create value.
This doc isn’t just for founders; it’s for everyone. I encourage you to create a similar doc for yourself if you lead a team. If you’re an individual contributor, then create one and try to share with your manager. Having a “how to work with me document” reduces friction between players on a team, helps others know how you like to work and ways to support one another.
The document shared above is a sample doc. You’re welcome to copy the template, but I encourage you to create your own version of it.