How to Work for My Dad (by my daughter)
These norms are typical of effective teams.
The first time I hired a part-time executive assistant turned out to be a learning experience in hiring, onboarding, training, and management. In many respects, it ended badly — except as a learning experience.
The most powerful lesson came from a source I never expected: my 17 year old daughter, Emma Seager
When Emma correctly perceived that my new assistant was struggling to be productive, struggling to manage her emotions, and struggling with her own schedule, Emma sat her down and said this:
I want to tell you a few things about how to work with my Dad. He’s not like any other boss, so no one that you’ve ever worked for has taught you how to work with him. And I want you to know how to do that.
What Emma proceeded to outline is what I now call The Five Norms of Effective Teamwork. I’m going to paraphrase them for you here, as they were originally explained in reference to working for me, but you may cross out “my Dad” in your mind and insert “the Team” and they work even better.
