10 Tips for Building a UIDEA Team
We've seen a lot of teams over the years. Small teams. Large teams. Some that lost members as the ideas grew. And some that are standing strong still today. Below are our top 10 tips for building a successful UIDEA team.
Pick people you like to spend time with. People you can have fun with and people you trust to have difficult conversations. You'll be spending a sizable chunk of time together. And your idea and the work will evolve over time. Make sure your team is comprised of people you want to grow and laugh with.
Choose people who are passionate. About this idea specifically. The most successful teams have lived the pain point that your idea solves or feel strongly that this is the direction of the future. What the Selection Committee is looking for are people who are uniquely poised to design the solution you are proposing.
Make the time. Find people who actually have the capacity to dedicate to designing or piloting your idea. If there are others whose opinions you value, you can always pull them in as advisors. They don't have to be part of the team itself. Time and capacity are especially hard to come by these days. Refer back to item two above. Those who are passionate tend to make the time. Even unit fundraising heads.
Diversify your perspectives. If there is a technical component to your idea, and tech things aren't your forte, it helps to find someone who can help. If someone in another unit might shed useful light on the idea in order to scale it across campus, cool. Bring them on board. Same with folks who have expertise in working with users or storytelling or speaking in public.
Don't overdo it though. You'll get plenty of feedack throughout the batch. So you don't need everyone who could possibly be involved or have an opinion about your idea to be part of your team. You still need to get the work done to build the minimum viable version of what you want to build. That means it doesn't have to be all things to all people at the beginning. Refer back to item one above.
Make sure you have do-ers. Not just visionaries. Someone has to do the actual work of innovating.
Identify a project manager. Someone who is great at keeping track of tasks and keeping everyone on task. Perhaps that's you as the lead. Or maybe it isn't. There are lots of moving parts in designing your idea and your pitch. You need someone to wrangle the to-do list and the timelines.
Represent advancement. If you don't work directly in advancement, we highly recommend you consider including someone from advancement on your team. They can help connect the dots, ensure you aren't replicating work that already exists, and flag potential problems.
Make sure everyone understands the requirements. Team members need to actively participate in Kickoff, Demo Day, team meetings, pitch meetings, etc. You can read more about the expectations for team members in The UIDEA Agreement.
Keep it small. But not too small. We've had small and mighty teams of two or three people. And we've had large teams with eight+ people. The right mix is probably somewhere in between. Enough people to get the work done and not too many people to get in the way of getting the work done.
If you aren't sure who might be a good fit for your team or you want to discuss your team development, grab some time on Katie Blum's calendar.
