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Stars: on demanding excellence

One of the amazing things about the Nigerian startup scene is the communities where founders learn, network and share their experiences. I belong to 3 of them Collective Founders Initiative, Unicorn Founders (I’m manifesting this) and PremiaBN. If you’re in tech or looking to be in tech and wants to join a community, you should consider one of these. 

I saw a question someone asked on the Unicorn Founders platform and I found it very interesting. The question reads: 
“As a passionate founder who wants the best work done always, how do you insist on and demand excellence from your team without being overly emotional about it.” 
I posted a response to it and I thought I should share on my blog. See my response below: 

  1. Your team needs to know/trust that you know what you’re doing (or saying) and you’re committed to the outcomes.
  2. Clarity is key to delivery. Sometimes, because of the level of detail and context we have, we don’t do the great job of communicating clearly to make our desired goals/expectations clear. 
  3. Hire people who are outcome oriented rather than efforts. One of my biggest shocks transitioning into Naij startup scene is the notion of “efforts”. 
  4. Excellence is subjective, you have to define it and everyone must be aligned to it. (I learned this the hard way) 
  5. Hire the right people, you will never need to demand or insist this. 


How do you ensure excellence in your company?
God loves you!

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