#Working Styles
“We also came to realize that working as a team required a lot of understanding other people’s working styles.”
- Samuel Njuguna, Co-Founder of Chura
Chura, a company which allows users to share mobile resources like money, data, and minutes across networks, started with a team of 8 very different people. Some worked at night, some took naps, some wanted quiet, others wanted discussion. Making the company work meant making this team work together.
##How Resentments Build
What was the problem with all these different working styles within Chura? Well, the entire team shared a house and so they were constantly exposed to how each member worked. This led to a lot of judgment, with team members feeling that one person wasn’t working as hard as them, or that they weren’t working hard enough.
“What that tends to do is you feel you’re not productive and not pulling your weight. So, it leads to a feeling as if you’re not giving your all to the team and that fear of being judged.”
-Samuel Njogu, Co-Founder of Chura
For example, one team member might see another napping while he’s working hard. Another teammate might do all of their work alone and away from the rest of the team. A team member might even just need to occasionally step away from their work to do something else.
All of these cases can lead to a team member feeling another isn’t not working as hard as they should be. These resentments could build up when they weren’t talked about. So slowly over time, some team members would get more frustrated with others, or with themselves.
This was a destructive atmosphere for Chura, it hurt feelings, friendships, and productivity.
##Addressing Different Working Styles
“When you start working on the company, your best time to work is not the same as someone else’s. So, initially you would wonder why you’re working at one time and everyone else isn’t.”
- Samuel Njuguna, Co-Founder of Chura
Eventually, Chura realized that at the core of a well functioning team is the idea of giving someone the benefit of the doubt, as well as allowing them to work the way they do best. The first idea there is that you have to develop trust. So when you see your collegue napping, you trust that they are still accomplishing the work they need to.
Of course that is easier said than done, it helps when your team works together over a period of time so that trust has time to develop. But absent that, open conversations about what everyone is accomplishing can go a long way toward that goal.
But for Chura, the ultimate goal was getting the work done, so that meant allowing each member of the team to work the way they wanted to. Everyone on the team had to understand that getting the work done mattered most, so they had to remind themselves that the company’s goals were more important than small disagreements about how they were working.
##The Results
By developing this understanding, the Chura team managed to build their company into a real player in the Kenyan market and still succeesfully live and work together. Now, their mixed working styles have become an asset for the company, giving them flexibility and efficiency.
Instead of forcing each member of the team to work in a single office from 9am-5pm every day, the team puts trust in its members to figure out their own work schedules and styles. If there’s a problem with the system in the middle of the night someone will probably be there to fix it. When the team has a big challenge, everyone can tackle it in the way that works best for them.