Entrepreneurship

An inside look at how two entrepreneurs built a world-class, award-winning customer service culture

brentlowe Entrepreneur, Leadership Entrepreneurship, leadership

Visiting Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula, yet-to-be married adventurers Dana and David Krauskopf started playing with a crazy idea. What if they were to build a hotel… from scratch? Twenty-five years later Hamanasi Adventure & Dive Resort has evolved into one of the world’s top eco-retreats. The resort holds a long list of honors: TripAdvisor Travelers’ Choice Awards, Conde Nast Traveler’s Readers’ Choice Awards, The Boutique Hotel Award for Best Beach Hotel in the Americas, and an Eco Excellence Award.

That’s the short story.

The goodness of Dana and David’s journey comes by taking a deeper dive into how they made it happen.

Before purchasing an initial 21-acres of undeveloped property in southern Belize, Dana and David were cautioned by bankers, lawyers and the business elite of Belize City that failure was inevitable. The couple had no hospitality management experience and had chosen to build near the village of Hopkins. It was an area near void of tourism with a reputation for having a lazy workforce. Sustaining a thriving tourism business in Hopkins was viewed by most as a fools game.

In late 2017, my wife and I visited Hamanasi for a week of diving. By the end of our visit, I was compelled to track down the owners.

I wanted to learn how they had created such a top-notch customer experience — one that far exceeded any I had seen at other similar resorts.

Despite having over 145 staff members, we felt like welcome guests in the team’s home. Our experience is best captured through Dana’s description of how she thinks about Hamanasi. “If a friend or relative comes to my home and I know they prefer cream in their coffee, I make sure I have cream on hand. It’s my way of letting them know I care. This is the experience we want every guest to have at Hamanasi. It’s not just about responding to our guests’ needs, but also anticipating those needs.”

Our first “coffee-cream experience” came following our ride from the local airport. On the drive, our van load of guests engaged in a lively discussion about coffee. By the time we completed a relaxing two minute walk from van to hotel, the front desk staff was already briefed. Knowing of their new guest’s passion for coffee, we were offered coffee makers in our rooms. We experienced this same level of service time and time again with team members radiating warmth, care and humour at every turn.

So how did Dana and David do it? How were they able to build a world-class team under circumstances most thought impossible?

In conversation with Dana, I found five distinct, purposeful ingredients to their culture. They fall under the umbrella of genuine care. Care for team. Care for customers. Care for environment. Care for community. As I hear so often in conversation with successful founders, the Krauskopfs are not driven by a desire for excessive wealth. It’s personal passion and strong values at the core of their business.

Lazy or Unskilled?

From the beginning, Dana and David disagreed with others’ assumption that the people of Hopkins were lazy. Instead, they saw a village of good people lacking training. The Krauskopfs believed local residents would rise to the challenge given an opportunity to learn. They were right. 85% of the original 30 employees came from the local community. Nine of those are still with Hamanasi today.

Hamanasi takes training seriously, placing a heavy emphasis on staff development. Every new team member completes a robust onboarding program including award-winning customer service training. That same customer service training gets repeated as a refresher every two years. The team works with Antonella Moroni, a former business consultant. Antonella provides ongoing training and one-on-one coaching to the Hamanasi team. She teaches the practice of Mindfulness and how its fundamental principles can be applied to foster clear communication, open collaboration, positive conflict resolution and effective decision making.

Every team leader also receives training based on John Maxwell’s book The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership. Chris, a young Mayan man who started at the resort as a beach-raker, was recently promoted to be the leader of the beach-raking team. He received the same leadership training as every other manager at Hamanasi.

This investment in education has an added benefit — an ever increasing sense of personal pride. Many team members don’t have a lot of formal education or global exposure. Through Hamanasi training programs they become genuine experts working at an award-winning resort. Marcia, one of the Krauskopf’s first hires, started off as a cook. She has since been certified by Johnson & Wales and the Culinary Institute of America and had the pleasure of preparing a meal for Britain’s Prince Harry as part of Queen Elizabeth’s Diamond Jubilee celebration.

Dana has an opportunity to speak at an annual team gathering. Each time, she shares her leadership perspective. “As leaders at Hamanasi, we see our job as treating you well, training you well, paying you competitively, and helping you be someone other resorts want to hire. At the same time, we aim to create an experience that leads you to want to stay with us and be part of this team.”

Building the Team

The Krauskopfs initial recruiting process was simple. They posted fliers in the community and set up a table on the beach where locals could apply. Beyond the most basic of application forms, Dana and David sat and talked with people. Unless specific skills were a necessity, such as dive-master certification, their focus was on personality. “Is this a person I would enjoy being around?” Much of the kitchen staff, for example, had never cooked outside of their homes before joining the Hamanasi team.

Hamanasi is now a bit more selective on skills and experience, but still hire young, personable, untrained locals too. It’s Dana and David’s belief that, “sometimes it’s better that way.”

Since day one, the Krauskopfs have maintained high ethical standards. Hamanasi never actively poaches employees from other hotels. If someone wants to work for Hamanai, they need to apply directly.

Setting Expectations

Hamanasi is demanding in the expectations it sets with the team. This is especially true for customer service orientation, which doesn’t always come naturally for new team members.

As part of its onboarding program, rules get explained and expectations set. In Dana’s words, “We go over the normal nuts and bolts you would anticipate. We also explain that we are a hotel and an eco resort. We are bringing guests into our home and our job is to provide nothing short of ‘experiences of a lifetime’. We train the team on our own customer-service method known by acronym GKLAA. GREET the customer. Get to KNOW them. LISTEN. ACT. ANTICIPATE.”

Guest comment forms get consolidated each month to help keep a pulse on how the team is doing. The comments get sorted into the good, the bad, and the ugly.

So what happens when team members fail to live up to Dana and David’s expectations? The Krauskopfs return to their core philosophy: care & train. Managers talk to those who need to improve. A lot of coaching and guidance is provided to help people along. This often takes time. Dana shared Kim’s story as an example. Kim was a server in the hotel restaurant. Her performance oscillated. She had good mood days and bad mood days. Her managers kept working with her and the investment paid off. Today Kim is a restaurant supervisor.

Feedback, Feedback and More Feedback

When I contacted Dana to research this article, she welcomed the opportunity to speak. For Dana, it was an opportunity to get feedback from a previous guest. She was keen to know what I thought they could do better. Her follow up email ended with, “Should you have any additional comments, positive or negative, please pass them along. Criticism is how we improve!”

For the Hamanasi team, feedback is fuel. As Dana explains, “I love when customers give us feedback… without it, we’re blind. For example, our restaurant servers spend their time standing by tables and looking down. They see the table in a certain way. Our guests see things from a different perspective and it’s that perspective we need to hear.”

Comment cards are just the start. Two days after arriving at Hamanasi a resort team member approached my wife and me. With clipboard in hand, she asked us a series of questions to see how the team might improve our stay. They asked us for more feedback before leaving the resort.

Human Connection

It’s clear that Dana and David’s intent is genuine. In Dana’s words, “we want our guests to feel we are inviting them into our home and they are part of our family. It’s about genuine human connection. I can treat you as a human, you can treat me as a human.”

While writing this article I’ve come to recognize the single defining element that separates Hamanasi from other resorts. The team at Hamanasi was there to serve me, but not to be my servant. The distinction may seem minor, but the onsite experience profound. Every member of the team stood tall, spoke with confidence, and served with pride.

As I dug deeper into this idea with Dana, she explained, “We encourage our team to get to know our guests, to talk with our guests. We want them to interact and to share their personal stories… it’s a powerful thing.”

I shared with Dana how I had had a lengthy conversation with a member of the front line resort team. Throughout the discussion, I never got a sense he was fearful of getting in trouble for not doing his job. Dana’s response: “He was doing exactly what he should have been doing at that given moment. There was no where else he should have been.”

Dana and David have a deep desire for their employees to respect customers as real people and not just wealthy transients. They want guests to respect the team too. When that healthy human connection develops, so does a sense of pride within the team. It leads everyone to think about how they can make others’ lives better. It starts to shift their outlook from “it’s my job” to “it’s the decent thing to do, the thing I want to do.”

Dana and David’s greatest sense of satisfaction comes when their staff gets commended. It’s the joy of proving that the original doubters from 20 years ago were wrong.

To learn more about Hamanasi, visit the resort’s website at www.hamanasi.com. While you are there, make sure to visit the Community and Sustainability sections of the site. The Hamanasi team is active in the local community. In 2017, Hamanasi gave over $28,000 to various local charities and initiatives, not including many in-kind gifts by both guests and the resort. They also house visiting veterinarians when they donate their time to the Hopkins Belize Humane Society.

To learn stories of other entrepreneurs and the radical ideas they are using to grow their businesses, visit www.reinventingscaleups.com.

How the best entrepreneurs build momentum

brentlowe Entrepreneur Entrepreneurship, Founders, Scaleup, startup

Voracious reader. Curious observer. Determined experimenter. Constant thinker. Driven achiever.

As an entrepreneur, learning is a strength baked into your DNA. It fuels your sense of possibility.

Coming up with reasonable — and often brilliant — business solutions is rarely an issue for founders.

So why does your team struggle despite your problem solving skills and all that learning? Poor hiring decisions, slow progress, low engagement, instability. Things seem to be getting harder as you grow. The good times aren’t rolling as fast as they once did… or as you think they should now.

Here’s the thing. Your strengths come with a shadow — a dark side. Until you see it, that shadow holds you and your team back. It keeps you exhausted. Frustrated. Unable to achieve sustained forward momentum. As your business and team grows, that shadow becomes your nemesis.

Confusion is the dark side

Your team needs a certain amount of predictability. When they don’t have it, they spin their wheels. Rather than focusing on incremental improvements, they’re busy trying to interpret your latest brilliant plan.

For you, every problem provides a new challenge. It’s an opportunity to test out your latest thinking. Newer is better. For them, every new process, meeting agenda, and set of expectations brings confusion, uncertainty.

The best entrepreneurs understand this. They follow five simple habits that feed their desire for progress and meet their team’s need for predictability.

Ritualize it!

The “it” is anything the team should be doing consistently. A strategy conversation. Providing quotes to clients. Hiring. Celebrating a big sale. Think of “it” as a mini checklist of to-dos — a list of team commitments. Rather than seeking perfection, start with good enough for now. Ritualizing “good enough” always outperforms a confused team searching for perfection.

Here are some examples from inside my clients’ companies:

When a software developer “breaks the build”, he or she needs to buy donuts for everyone on their team.

EVERY Tuesday and Thursday at 11:07 am a company-wide meeting begins with good news stories.

Four times each year, a preset group meets to review sales compensation payments.

At 4:30 pm on the last Thursday of every month the company hosts internal TED-style talks.

As the final step in the company’s onboarding process, each new joiner has a debrief with the CEO.

Steven Handel, author at The Emotion Machine, suggests the following as characteristics of rituals.

Rituals…

…are symbolic and meaningful (created with purpose)

….are internally motivated (and not an attempt to replicate something better suited elsewhere)

….require full engagement (be all in or don’t do it at all)

….are anchored in celebration (celebrate success, learning, growth, failure, innovation)

….tell a story (the whole thing needs to hang together)

….bring a sense of belonging (everyone who is part of the ritual has a voice in its creation and evolution)

….focus on the performance of tasks (something needs to get done)

One owner

Every ritual needs an owner. One owner. That person, sometimes referred to as the host or custodian of the ritual, keeps the ritual alive. There are two ways I’ve seen ownership handled best.

The first is having a single, consistent owner who is passionate about the ritual and sees value in it.

The second is rotating ownership, where ownership responsibilities are clearly documented. Rotational ownership of a recurring meeting or mentorship of new team members are examples.

In either case, ownership does not need to include content. The owner of a quarterly strategy meeting doesn’t need to prepare the meeting content. Their role is in making sure the meeting happens with necessary pre-work circulated.

As a general rule, busy entrepreneurs and CEOs make for poor ritual owners. Its best to outsource this role to the team when possible.

Have a trigger and a target

Every ritual needs a trigger. Without one, time passes and so does the ritual. The best triggers include personal commitments to others. It’s just too easy for us to ignore triggers when no one else knows or cares about them.

Each ritual also needs a declared target. When does it need to be completed? A good example of a failed target is a company strategy meeting that gets pushed out, again and again and again. Rituals fall apart when they are not prioritized as important. When setting up your ritual, agree to when moves or cancellations are okay.

Here are the triggers and targets for the examples I shared above [targets are in square brackets].

Software developers bring donuts when the build breaks… you can’t hide a broken build. [Same day, always]

The company-wide meeting is on everyone’s calendar every week, forever. It’s designed to run independent of any single person’s attendance. [Same day always unless the entire team is unavailable]

Sales compensation payment review meetings get scheduled by the company’s sales analyst. He needs to meet a payroll deadline. [Flexible within first 7 days of each new quarter]

TED-style talks are pre-scheduled, standing meetings owned by one individual. [As scheduled monthly except December]

Preparing to onboard of every new team member follows a preset checklist. [Completed before new hire’s first day]

Put it on (virtual) paper

The goal with rituals is consistency over time. Documenting the steps, the flow and the responsibilities ensures things don’t get forgotten. A simple checklist can do the job. It works for airline pilots and surgeons, and can work here too.

For example, having a simple standing agenda brings consistency to meetings. It ensures the little things don’t get missed like assigning a host for the next meeting.

Improve, continuously

Continuous improvement should be built into the ritual. It’s needs to be a core element rather than something set off to the side. It’s building on the foundation you’ve created rather than repeatedly starting from scratch. Retrospectives using a simple start, stop, continue exercise can take less than 5 minutes.

Perhaps the first meeting of a quarter includes a mini-retrospective. The last step in a process flow can be a quick review and update. It’s here where you can bring all your latest learning, tweaking the “good enough” ritual to be even better.

It’s true that sometimes step changes are needed and incremental change won’t do. The best entrepreneurs limit step changes to a critical few areas. They prefer instead to build a strong, lasting and predicable flow to their business.

I blog to help Founder CEOs on their journey from kitchen table to 200 employees. My latest book, Reinventing Scale-Ups can be found here. Be the first to receive new articles by signing up for my newsletter here.

The 5 goal-setting lessons that transformed my life

brentlowe Entrepreneur, Leadership Entrepreneurship, Goal Setting, leadership, Productivity

Three years ago I was stuck in the mud. Fully up to my knees trudging a path I didn’t enjoy.

I knew exactly what I wanted.

I knew where I wanted to be.

Yet that hopeful future image alluded me. It had been doing so for a decade or more.

Every year, like many, I wrote a list of goals for myself. I’d charge into the new year full of enthusiasm. By mid-January I was back in the same rut — the list of goals buried deep in a book somewhere.

Everything changed three years ago. I was introduced to a new approach. Over time I’ve improved upon it.

The result? I hit all my 2017 goals. In less than two years, I created a new business from ground up. I’ve surpassed the goals that laid dormant for more than a decade.

Here’s the recipe I use. Give it a try.

Visualization is everything. If you can’t visualize your outcome as if it’s already happened, then it won’t. Period. I spent years hoping for something different in the future. Even planning for it. But I couldn’t fully visualize it. I wasn’t able to put myself into the future state I wanted to create.

All great accomplishments come to those who believe before they achieve. Elon Musk can envision taking humans to Mars. Richard Branson could envision landing a hot air balloon on the other side of the ocean.

I’ve learned to focus on what I believe possible. I visualize that goal as already complete. The sense of accomplishment it has brought. The feeling of it all.

In the first year my goals were small, but they took me out of a rut. Each year the visualizations get a bit bigger and bolder, always remaining believable — and achievable.

Write a letter to yourself at the beginning of the year… as if it’s the last day of the year. In my experience, a bullet point list is too sterile. It fails to capture the essence of a good visualization. Instead, I write paragraph form. I tend to start jotting down thoughts a few weeks ahead of time. When I’m ready, I sit down and write free form. I write and re-write until I’m happy with what I have. Next I review the following lists of questions to ensure I’ve captured everything important.

What are my intentions in these five areas of my life this year (the five Fs): family and friends; primary focus of my work; fitness and health; finances; internal fire (my personal passions and hobbies)?
Who do I want / need to become to achieve my goals?
What beliefs or values do I want to work on strengthening this year?
What capabilities do I want or need to master?
What behaviours do I want to practice / ritualize?
What environment do I want to create for myself by the end of this year?

Actions and intentions matter more than specific outcomes. Think about the life of a farmer for a moment. What are his primary goals? Reap a good crop, sell it for a healthy profit, sustain the farm? Will he achieve his goals? Maybe. Maybe not. Frost may linger or the rain may fail to come. Farmers are not so naive as to follow the traditional predict-and-control approach to goal-setting. They know how little control they often have. Instead, they keep their eye on their long-term intentions while taking short-term actions. Look far ahead and to tomorrow. Everything between will not go as planned.

Be smart about measurement. With the farmer analogy in mind, I’ve found it makes little sense to set annual goals that I can only assess at the end of the year. Instead, I look for things I can track daily, weekly or monthly at most. Having no idea what the future holds, I focus most on measuring what I’m doing today. All those todays add up.

For example, I tend to push myself too hard in the gym and stray from good health habits. This year, rather than setting a fitness goal as I usual would, I am focused on minimizing sick days to less than 11. It’s hard to visualize “not being sick”, so instead I’m visualizing the daily rituals and routines I’ll be following to stay healthy. In this example, everything is measured daily.

Have an accountability partner and visualize that relationship too. Yesterday, I sent my coach an email summarizing 2017. I included a screenshot of my dashboard too. Here’s why:

Written January 1st, 2017…

It’s December 31st 2017… As I look at my year-end dashboard, I can see that it’s green across all three major objectives… A smile of pride crosses my face and I do a fist pump high in the air. I take a screenshot and send it to Peter (my coach) and my mentors.

Every day throughout 2017, I envisioned sending the dashboard to Peter. It kept me focused and made sure I did everything I said I was going to do. For me, it’s a recipe that works.

I wish you all the best as you begin your 2018 journey. Visualize and go make it happen.

I blog to help Founder CEOs on their journey from kitchen table to 200 employees. Be the first to receive new articles by signing up for my newsletter here.

The 7 rules for building powerful relationships from top 30-under-30 entrepreneurs

brentlowe Entrepreneur, Leadership Entrepreneurship, Founders, leadership, startup

Every superstar founder I work with has a single ability that sets them apart from everyone else: They know how to build a powerful network of powerful people.

Success has a ceiling. Entrepreneurs who don’t develop these power relationship skills will only go so far on their own merit and drive.

The good news? The skill of relationship building is available to EVERYONE… even if thinking about networking tends to make your stomach churn.

I’ve had the pleasure of working with two co-founders of Exact Media. Both come from modest beginnings and built their careers from ground up. Ray Cao, Exact Media’s CEO, made Profit Magazine’s Top 20 Under 30 list in 2011. Earlier this year Forbes named Daniel Rodic to its Top 30 Under 30 list. The two have personal and respected relationships with powerful people around the world.

Both Ray and Daniel are more introverted than extroverted. Neither one benefited from extensive family connections. They built their web of friendships from ground up.

Securing new leads and sales opportunities is the “that’s obvious” value of networking but founders are poised to gain so much more value from the RIGHT connections. For example, shipping costs will drop dramatically if you have a personal relationship at the executive level of an international courier company. The people at the top can provide better pricing.

So how’d they do it? How did they build a second-to-none global network? I’ve had a front row seat for the last three years. Here’s what I learned.

The mantra that defines a way of being

Ray has a mantra: Build relationships by adding value first, always. He has a sincere personal need to be helpful. In every interaction, Ray listens for opportunities. Can he leverage his knowledge, experience and relationships to lighten the load for others? He seeks nothing in return other than the personal high that comes with giving.

Daniel Rodic sharing his perspective on adding value first at a Tedx event. https://youtu.be/xI6OSvznk6E

Leveraging assets

What’s the greatest gift you can give? Ray and Daniel figured out early that relationships are incredibly valuable and must be cherished, cultivated and protected. Connections are hard for others to get. As a result, they have a high degree of value. They are a gift.

A few times each year, Ray hosts a dinner party. He limits attendance to 20 people and brings in exceptional speakers. The guest list is curated with the goal of creating helpful interactions between attendees. It’s relationship building on steroids.

By now you’re likely thinking, “Sure, it’s easy to give when you have money, knowledge, proven experience, and an impressive rolodex, but I’m not there yet. Then what?”

Getting started

Have you heard the story of Kyle MacDonald? Unemployed, he bartered a single red paperclip, and through 14 trades secured himself a house. Daniel’s story of relationship building has many parallels. Early in his career, Daniel’s list of high-powered relationships was thin. Recognizing that connections would be key to his personal success, Daniel made a list. He compiled a spreadsheet of the interesting people he knew who could be helpful to others. The initial list was short, just three people. These became his red paperclips.

I recently experienced Daniel’s relationship building in action. I shared my interest in getting involved with a United Nations initiative. Daniel jumped in to say he knew someone leading the initiative. 24 hours later I was in touch with Daniel’s UN contact. Daniel’s red paperclip has grown into powerful international friendships.

Figuring out how to help

Both Ray and Daniel are masters at stepping into other people’s shoes. As Daniel shared with me, “business leaders are generally worried about the same things. They are on the lookout for great talent, new clients, and perhaps financing. Most have a cause that’s close to their heart.” By asking a few questions, potential opportunities to help emerge.

The rules of the game

There are unwritten rules when it comes to making introductions. Master these and you will be well on your way to game changing results.

Rule #1: Win — win. There needs to be a balance in value exchange. Both parties need to get a win from the interaction that’s of comparable value. Introducing a first year university student to a fortune 500 CEO is likely to be a failed connection.

Rule #2: Give for the joy of giving. You have to do this because you love helping others without the expectation of return. Without this mindset the interaction becomes a transaction. From this point forward go into the world with a mission to help as many people as possible. Ray and Daniel are known to “surprise and delight” people in their network with small and unexpected gifts. They play personal recruiter too, matching up people and jobs. They do it because “it’s just fun!”

Rule #3: Get permission first. In Daniel’s words, “I’ve learned that the double-opt-in is important. It gets everyone’s buy-in, gives context and sets up the right conversation.” By making an introduction, you are offering up someone else’s time. Make sure to have that person’s OK, first.

Rule #4: Full transparency. Ray and Daniel are both upfront in sharing the process they follow in making introductions. There are no surprises.

Rule #5: Watch the timing. You never want anyone left feeling you made an introduction to get one in return. An ask that follows shortly after a give says, “now that I did an intro for you, I need you to….” Not cool.

Rule #6: Spread out “asks”. Gary Vaynerchuk is a serial entrepreneur, four-time New York Times bestselling author, speaker and internationally recognized internet personality. He’s also been a guest speaker for one of Ray’s famous dinners. In his writing, he advocates for a “give, give, give, ask” approach. Spread out the asks and make sure the gives far out pace the takes.

Rule #7: Make it personal. Ray puts a lot of thought into his helpfulness. I know because I’ve been on the receiving end. He does his research to figure out when and how he can be uniquely helpful. Daniel shared two of his favourite questions for discovering ways to be helpful. By asking, “What’s keeping you busy?”, Daniel looks for ways to ease that busyness. “What are you most excited about this year” unlocks boatloads of information about what’s top of mind.

I blog to help Founder CEOs on their journey from kitchen table to 200 employees. Be the first to receive new articles by signing up for my newsletter here.

The internal war that could topple your startup

brentlowe Entrepreneur Entrepreneurship, startup

You’ve never been more pumped — and confident — about the future. You’re certain of your customer-acquisition-cost, your sales pipeline looks AMAZING and you’ve got a realistic plan to scale up, up, UP!

So why do you have that awkward feeling that the other shoe is about to drop? When things are this good, something bad is just around the corner… right?

With this article, you can peer straight into that blind spot you fear. You can fix the ONE THING that could topple your scaling business, before it becomes an epic disaster.

There’s a war coming your way…

It’s the inevitable clash between the founding team and the superstar talent you start hiring. Two camps start to form.

Soon the divide will become your biggest frustration and distraction. Precious customer facing time will disappear as you mediate infighting. At a time when you need everyone energized and more focused than ever, things will start to unravel. Everything that you’ve worked so hard to build is at risk.

The founding team is the group that took the risk to join a fledgling startup. They worked long hours because they believed in what you were building together. They shared your vision when it was nothing more than scribbles on a napkin. Vacations — sacrificed. Weekends off — a luxury. You know everything about this group — their families, close friends, fears, aspirations. You’ve shared many meals together. These are smart people — scrappy problem solvers. You are loyal to this group who have been loyal to you and your ideas.

Camp #2 are the newcomers. These are also smart people. They come from bigger companies and have circled the block a few times. Experience has taught them that systems and processes are critical. They have the skills you need to move to the next stage of growth. You know it and so do they. They have a lot of good ideas and their arrival marks a change in how your company will run. Despite best intentions, you can’t remember the names of their spouses, partners, or children. You spend much less time together.

Leadership missteps now will lead to a divided company. These two camps will be at war with each other. The longer the war, the harder the healing. Some companies never recover.

There are three misunderstandings at the heart of this divide.

Without help, your newest team members will not appreciate the early struggle. They will see all the mistakes made and problems waiting to solve. They won’t appreciate the fatigue that the team pushed through. Resource gaps from the past are now invisible.
The special bond that developed between you and the founding team will be contentious. New team members perceive that special relationship as a threat. Talk will turn to the preferential treatment the founding group receives.
Your new, experienced hires signify change. That change will become a rallying cry for the founding group. Their mission will be to rebel against new processes. Anything that restricts their freedom is counter to their DNA and hence an enemy.

Get ahead of these challenges and keep your growth on track with these four rituals:

1. Storytelling — When we meet new people, we tend to focus on surface information. What’s your job? Where did you go to school? Go deeper. Make storytelling a critical component of how people connect in your company. It’s our stories that make us human. Here are six ideas to get you and your team started.

Tell me about your longest workday ever.
Who is your closest friend in or outside the company? How did you get to be so close?
What’s the biggest mistake you’ve made at work that you can now laugh about?
What’s something that’s happened to you in the past that’s shaped who you are today?
What’s been your most exciting or proud work moment?
What past vacation most shaped who you are today?

Written or recorded stories are also critical. Find ways to share the stories of the earliest days of your company as you on-board new team members.

2. Shared experiences — Our strongest relationships are rooted in shared experiences. For startups, shared experiences are an everyday occurrence. As your company grows, creating these experiences becomes a necessity. They can be big — retreats, orchestrated company-wide activities, hackathons. Or they can be simple — small group dinners, community charity events, hikes. The structure is much less important than the sharing of a memorable experience.

3. Sharing your values — What do you value most? Even if your company has yet to define its values, the founding team knows what you value. They have shaped and lived those values with you. As your company grows, you need to become more purposeful in articulating those values. The founding team has a keen sense for knowing when new team members don’t share your values. You’ll know you’ve made your values clear when your team starts mocking you.

4. Calling out the divide — If your founding team is getting special treatment, own it. Let the broad team know about the deep friendships you’ve created with this group. Share the history. Invite the rest of the team into that circle. Acknowledge what is, and share your thoughts of how you would like things to be in the future.

Give it a try. I’d love to hear your success stories. If you hit some bumps, contact me and I’ll share more tips to get things on track.

I blog to help Founder CEOs on their journey from kitchen table to 200 employees. Be the first to receive new articles by signing up for my newsletter here.