Never work with idiots and.....people you don't get on with and respect

Ten years ago, I had a discussion with a friend who was a serious rower. He's not Sir Steve Redgrave but understands what it takes to win. His assertion was that teams don't have to like each other to perform. In fact they can downright hate each other and still do the job. It was alleged that Eric Cantona would never pass to striker Andy Cole at Manchester United for example.

At the time I wasn't convinced that the sporting metaphor could translate to business. I'm certain now - he was wrong.In sports, the interaction is for a given period and you are focussed on defeating the opposition. Even a team that hate's each other's guts know that by passing to one another or tackling the opposition in particular ways, they can win the game. Even the rowers just have to stare at the back of their bete noir for a limited period each day.

During training you can steer cleer of them (I don't think swimmers have too much difficulty being in their own world) and football players can stay at opposite ends of the gym, get treatment at different times etc.

The problem with business is the amount of time you have to spend together without the rules you have in sports. You have to sit down eyeball to eyeball with the object of your loathing for hours on end in meetings and pass them at the coffee machine. I'd take this a stage further. The worst place to have a team that doesn't get on is in a startup.

One venture I saw recently has some interesting technology to allow people to increase their broadband speed. The chairman and technical guru were not exactly on the same page. I quite enjoyed the knockabout relationship but the guy I was with was appalled and didn't think they could be put in front of potential investors without serious changes. That was nothing, I was with the very intelligent leadership team of a Cambridge company who basically would have an argument every time I saw them (I'm pretty sure it wasn't me causing these problems). I'm talking real needle in the exchanges and serious bickering.

So why is this a problem for startups?Well, a startup is not like the insulated environment of a large company where roles are clear and responsibilities laid out. The senior team are going to have to have very flexible roles that may cover several disciplines. With the team all daydreaming about driving away in an Aston Martin DB9S (mmmmm me too) then the personal stake they have invested and their perception of the future value of the company will drive the pressure up even harder. Startups don't have the same clear route in front of them that say a division of General Electric, General Motors or Virgin might have.

Which direction should the company take? Should the company stick or twist, grow or die, diversify or focus?

Under this pressure, my view is that you need to start from a base of getting on with, and respecting, each other. It's not the army so discipline and shouting won't stop a dysfunctional team from getting at each other but, like the army, you certainly will end up 'in the trenches' together from time to time.

My experience makes this very clear now. I won't work with anyone that I don't think I can share a trench with. I'm lucky that I can make that choice but being in a new venture, helping a startup or creating a new business for corporates is tough enough without having a madman on board. My friend might be right for sports teams but I am convinced he is wrong about business. Never work with people you can't get on with and respect.

Copyright Richard Jones 2006