3 key learnings from a new team

I’ve recently shifted my portfolio into a new team in the company and it has been a ride. Having been a Circles employee from the beginning, I didn’t think too much when I voluntarily accepted the shift, thinking it wasn’t going to be much of a difference versus what I’ve gone through in my past 7 years.

It’s completely new. Not in a negative way, but it’s NEW. That’s also when I realized that starting from scratch in a new team was going to be much more challenging than I thought so. Which I’m glad I chose it because being uncomfortable simply makes you grow even more. And hence, after being immersed in this team for a good quarter, here are my key takeaways on how to work in a new team, and what makes/breaks a team:

Trust and Ownership

When you first start out in a new team, everyone needs to establish a new benchmark of trusting members in projects together. Fortunately, we are a small team and it was easily established, and we quickly understood each other’s strengths and weaknesses. Given that the pace was going at 200km / hour and we were each handling multiple areas of multiple projects, it would have been very easy to say that I was only going to do what I was good at, and let other members figure their own areas out. But thankfully, we ain’t selfish creatures 😛 The team has been in full support of each other’s domains and more from the beginning, all the way through to our interns who also understood the dynamics and started to play pivotal roles within the team.

While the ask of the team is ginormous with mountains to move and rockets to fly within lightning speeds, the number one thing to continue upholding is trust in each member and allowing members to go all out in their respective areas while maintaining a safety net all around. Afterall, startups are meant to try and fail, try again in a different way and unlock some cool shit! As long as we go crazy but smartly, innovation can truly happen.

Disagree to agree

Often enough, when you’re in a setting that is relatively new and unfamiliar to you, people tend to keep their opinions to themselves. Aka, the loudest voice in the room tends to win. Groupthink tends to happen because well, agreeing is the simplest way out, right? However, what we’ve observed is that when people start asking questions, voicing out and having alternative views, the final outcome tends to be much more aligned versus a single opinion taking over the room. Not to say that we always have to be the devil’s advocate in every single thing, but when we find the balance between agreement and disagreement, it’ll result in a much more cohesive knowledge amongst everyone. And we often emphasize to our interns that they are NOT interns in our team, so that their voice is rightly heard as well! I’ve to admit that I’m not the best at voicing out and it’s something I’m conscious about, but I’ve been trying and hopefully in time to come, the balance will be figured out!

It’s not for everyone

This is a very important aspect of understanding the team and making sure that people are aligned to the objective and ways of working. Truth be told, being in this new portfolio has been one of the biggest challenges personally so far. The level of rigour and mindfulness and learning has exceeded my initial expectations, but again, I may be wired differently from the vast majority 🤷🏻‍♀️ And thankfully for most of the team as well who fully understood the mission from the get go. But again, it is OKAY to realise at some point that something like this isn’t for you, and don’t be afraid to voice it out to seek help and guidance on next steps.

Look out for what this small but crazy team is going to do, and sincerely wish us luck for the upcoming expeditions to move some mountains!