Start Up Business: How to Manage A Small Team

manage a small team

For any start-up business, seeing growth and going from a couple of employees to a small handful can be extremely exciting. However, with growth, does come more responsibilities and more people to manage which can make things a little trickier.

What might have worked before when there were a couple of you, might not work so well when you have multiple people working on a project or client. As you grow it’s important to re-evaluate what works and what needs improving.

Seek advice

This could be from a mentor, friend or someone you trust. Seeking advice on how other people run their teams or what they feel works for them might help give you some ideas on how you can implement something that works for your team. This isn’t to say you need to replicate their structure or methods, but using their advice to help inform your decisions can help. This includes getting some advice on what not to do or things to avoid.

Networking events might be a great place for you to meet similarly sized businesses or people who have gained experience in your industry.

Use the right tools

Just because you’re a start-up doesn’t mean you shouldn’t utilize some of the great tools out there. Investing in the right ones early on means you’ll be able to manage your team from the get-go. This includes the tools designed to help manage team resource, tasks, and deadlines.

Choose a tool such as Resource Guru, that can deliver you insights into progress and time tracked for tasks. This means you can evaluate early on if you’re allocating the right amount of resource in the right areas. Spotting any issues early on with resource can save you a lot of time and money further down the line, it also helps you manage expectations within the business both with staff and clients.

Communicate

Communication is key, especially when your team is still relatively small and you might have multiple people working together on the same client or campaign. Scheduling in time each week to catch up to discuss any concerns, progress or issues is a good idea as it allows everyone to get up to speed. Also having regular catch ups with people on an individual basis will help you to manage peoples progress and development. This is a great opportunity for you to give any feedback or identify some targets together. Having this one on one time can be really valuable for everyone involved.