Being a founder of a start-up is tough, everyone tells us that before we embark on the journey, however us entrepreneurs seldom listen. We all drive forward with faith and vigour because we believe so strongly in our idea and are convinced everyone else will!! That is seldom the case; it does take longer and it is tougher than initially believed.
An area that often goes unnoticed, and therefore un-managed, is how the founders change, as a group and individually, from the birth of the great idea, through start-up to stay-up. At LINQ we identified, during one of our ‘challenging’ moments (three months if I am being totally transparent) that the four founders had ‘drifted’ in various directions from our start point. This recognition led us to consider coaching that might assist our maturing as individuals, as a leadership team and as a company. A misconception that Personal Development is just a thing that happens in a start-up because we are always learning is dangerous. Effort must be applied to ensuring that it is the necessary Personal Development that is taking place and the founders must not forget about themselves when developing the strategy.
We reached out to an old acquaintance Adam Cooper, who, as the Director of Creative Leadership, gets alongside leaders to help them. Through a number of his workshops he is assisting the LINQ leadership team to:
CONNECT with the things that really matter – so we can fully face the challenges growing a global SaaS business from Wellington and lead that scaling with courage;
EXPLORE new possibilities for leading, learning and encounter – so we can respond better within our context; and,
EXPRESS new forms of purposeful action – so we continue to be agents of positive change with expanded impact
Leadership is a bit like mastery; it doesn’t matter how good you get, there is always more improvement to be made. Through our ongoing work with Adam and Creative Leadership we are growing and maturing as individuals and as a leadership team; there is still a long way to go………….