The key to building your team is to “surround yourself with people who believe what you believe, but don’t think the way you think,” stated Gib Mason to a room full of student entrepreneurs.
Mason’s workshop, How to Build Your Team, held in entreSpace on November 24, aimed to help students do just that. But this wasn’t about team building. It was about building a team that brought all the skills to the table. Some of these relationships are formal, like those with a banker or lawyer, while others can be informal. Mason loves to play golf and will occasionally have meetings on the links. But these are much less formal meetings, but help build rapport. These shared experiences are part of the foundation of building a successful team.
Networking is another area that Mason was quick to provide some tips on. Networking isn’t about meeting as many people as possible, “it’s about meeting that one person who will provide the greatest connection with. It’s about depth of connection more than quantity.”
Mason also recommended that every entrepreneur find a mentor and consider joining agencies that will provide new businesses with resources to help spark ideas and build connections. Some local agencies are the MCE, Maryland Non-Profits, and SCORE. He also suggested utilizing the SBA when getting started as well.
6 Tips for Building Your Team:
- Surround yourself with people who believe what you believe
- Make sure team members don’t think the same way you think (there is no conflict in which to spark ideas)
- Surround yourself with youth. Their energy and enthusiasm is infectious.
- People with high EQ is just as, if not more, important as high IQ
- IQ is what will get you in the door, EQ is what will keep you there
- Find a mentor!
- Network. Put yourself out there. But concentrate on finding the person who you want to connect with the most and do so at length.
For an audio recording of this workshop, visit: How to Build Your Team (Gib Mason).mp3. You will be prompted to download this file.
