Functions Versus Teams
My limited experiences with early stage, web companies leads me to believe that when building out a marketing team the founding group thinks about building a specific function instead of a cohesive team, unless the company is very well funded. It makes sense, why spend hundreds of thousands on employees you don’t need until you need them. The result though is that there are marketing functions but not a marketing team. Different managers or directors end up owning bits and pieces of the marketing team and the marketing group doesn’t really view itself as a marketing department.
Group Related Teams
The first thing to do is assess what functions make sense together based off the people in the company: product management, product marketing, communications, sales, et cetera. Then reorganize the team members to be on their respective teams. BAS has organized the team around channels and design. For example, the sales and internet marketing people are on one team and the design team is on another. There are a couple of people still floating in undefined groups, but those should sort themselves out as the company continues to grow.
Shared Identity
After the teams have been reorganized they have to start talking to each other about the on going projects, problem solving together, and creating a community. Out of this community will naturally emerge a culture, that as long as its positive, should be encouraged. Negative aspects like belittling team members should be squelched as soon as possible.
If possible, have everyone in the same room including the direct manager. Having the manager in the same room helps the spread of information, creates a better bond between team and manager, and makes it easier for the manager to see how the team is developing. One of the great things about a startup is the access to the founders in the beginning of the company, but as head count grows the management team starts to move into offices. Employees lose site of the leader and the company can start to feel less connected to the employees.
Group projects and team activities help to build the cohesion as well. People need to understand the strengths and weaknesses of each person and created shared experiences. Team building happy hours never hurt either, but more to come on building trust later.
