451 Posts found for Source: First Round Review

Spotting folks who can become high-impact leaders at your company is exceptionally challenging in an interview setting. While you can probe IC skills with a coding test or other function-specific take-home projects, unraveling all the nuances that go into managing people can be incredibly tricky — especially with just a narrow sliver of time with each candidate.

So when sitting down with management candidates, interviewers tend … [ Read more ]

Content: Article | Source: First Round Review | Subjects: Hiring, Human Resources

Culture is the set of words, actions, and behaviors of a group of people.

Content: Quotation | Author: Jess Yuen | Source: First Round Review | Subjects: Culture, Organizational Behavior

Founders, here’s a good litmus test for your company values: If you took 6 months off, and left no directions other than “Follow our values to a T,” would you be happy with the outcome?

Content: Quotation | Author: Laura Del Beccaro | Source: First Round Review | Subjects: Culture, Management, Organizational Behavior, Values

This first [culture] pillar is about communication within teams, between teams, and between individuals — essentially how we treat each other when we interact. The frequency with which we talk, the way we talk to each other, the tone we use, how we communicate good or bad news, whether we communicate certain things at all, and the channels we choose to use — those are … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Author: Laura Del Beccaro | Source: First Round Review | Subjects: Culture, Organizational Behavior

Culture is commonly overlooked, particularly at early-stage companies. It’s easy to think, “We’re only five people, our culture is who we hire, we don’t need to define anything until we’re bigger.” “Hire amazing people” could mean talented or kind or ambitious — which are you optimizing for? Startups are often allergic to process, but a hiring process exists whether you define it or not. It’s … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Author: Laura Del Beccaro | Source: First Round Review | Subjects: Culture, Organizational Behavior

As product leaders, every choice we make is a choice that we save our users from making. If we’re not clear about what we want our product to do, we shift that lack of clarity to the user.

Content: Quotation | Author: Ravi Mehta | Source: First Round Review | Subject: Management

You can’t add simplicity in. You must take complexity out.

Content: Quotation | Author: Dharmesh Shah | Source: First Round Review | Subjects: Management, Organizational Behavior, Productivity / Work Tips, Products & Services

For folks looking to get started [creating a culture code] [begin] with this prompt: Who are the kinds of people that we think we want to work with? These can’t be platitudes that everyone would say yes to. Like, we want to hire smart people. Intelligence can’t be a core cultural value because no one would say they want to hire stupid people. You have … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Author: Dharmesh Shah | Source: First Round Review | Subjects: Culture, Hiring, Human Resources, Organizational Behavior

But it doesn’t have to be such a chore. When done well, performance reviews are an incredibly valuable exercise that enables a manager and direct report to track growth over time, align on how the work impacts what matters most to the business, and build a more open and trusting relationship. The conversation should flow both ways — a back-and-forth dialogue, not a lecture.

That’s why … [ Read more ]

Content: Article | Source: First Round Review | Subjects: Coaching, Human Resources, Management, Training & Development

When it comes to recruiting you can always tell someone what they want to hear, but within six months you’ll both know whether it’s true. Listening for what a candidate is truly looking for instead of just pitching will save you wasted cycles.

Content: Quotation | Author: Ximena Vengoechea | Source: First Round Review | Subjects: Hiring, Human Resources

When things feel personal and when our ego is involved, it gets really hard to listen.

Content: Quotation | Author: Ximena Vengoechea | Source: First Round Review | Subjects: Communication, Organizational Behavior, Personal Development

The words we use — or don’t use — impact decisions and, in turn, money. Money words are the execution arm of persuasion. If we can agree that the words we choose are persuasive levers — and our job is to pull those levers intentionally and strategically — then allow me to share with you two money words and one lose-money word. They are the … [ Read more ]

Content: Article | Author: Joanna Wiebe | Source: First Round Review | Subjects: Advertising, Marketing / Sales

One of the common mistakes that we, and I’m sure other companies, have made is that you fully allocate your budget at the beginning of the year. You’ve got five people working on one idea, five working on another, and one of those things is just taking off. And when they ask for more resources, leaders often say, “Well, it’s April, we do budget allocation … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Author: Jeff Lawson | Source: First Round Review | Subject: Finance

Humans are so good at finding patterns, often to our own detriment. More often, we find patterns where we shouldn’t.

Content: Quotation | Author: Jane Davis | Source: First Round Review | Subject: Organizational Behavior

You can’t trust your initial reaction to feedback. Defensive responses are driven by common fears about our own competence, and fear is a powerful distorter of the messages we hear.

Content: Quotation | Author: Shivani Berry | Source: First Round Review | Subjects: Career, Personal Development

Every formal 1:1 or review conversation with your manager should include the following: “Please tell me one thing I should stop doing, one thing I should keep doing, and one thing I should start doing to help me progress in my career.”

Content: Quotation | Author: Monty Fowler | Source: First Round Review | Subject: Career

One tool that’s often overlooked in driving your career is using the performance process at your current job. Most companies have annual reviews where performance reviews are compiled and used to determine who is ready for promotion. Don’t wait for that review period to drive your promotion. Find out the critical success factors your supervisor will need to see in order to support your promotion. … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Author: Anjuan Simons | Source: First Round Review | Subject: Career

Plant seeds throughout the year with your manager about the skills you’re trying to acquire that are outside of your immediate role. Restate these at your regular performance reviews, but also when someone on the team or in the organization leaves, which may be a win-win for you and your manager. If you know the company may be considering a reorganization, offer your skills to … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Author: Randhir Vieira | Source: First Round Review | Subject: Career

Write down every person you work with, their biggest need, and their most ideal “OMG this makes my life so much better!” Now you have a list of your organization’s greatest needs and solutions. Now, decide if filling any of these needs aligns with you (Hint: If you’re excited about it, that’s usually the right mark).

Content: Quotation | Author: Davit Balagyozyan | Source: First Round Review | Subject: Career

The best version of your career is finding jobs that are in the Venn diagram between what you love doing and what you’re exceptional at. This may sound obvious, but oftentimes as you get more senior, the Venn diagram is often “things I’m exceptional at” overlapping with “things I hate doing.” You have to know yourself well enough to turn those jobs down, even when … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Author: Molly Graham | Source: First Round Review | Subject: Career