No founder starts a company because they want to manage people.

They want to change the world, help customers, create jobs, make money, inspire others, innovate, and 100 other things.

They love to work with people and support them. But the actual day-to-day people management is…draining.

This is why they are SO appreciative of the employees who “get it.”

At a certain level of management, you are even paid to be self-sufficient. The CEO wants to spend time on strategic efforts, not dealing with people who need hand holding or oversight.

It can be hard to articulate what “they just get it” actually means. 🙃

How do you define it???

And if you’re at a startup now, how do you maximize your impact and career by being one of those awesome folks who does “get it”?

Here’s a list of qualities I often see in top startup employees who move up quickly (and a helpful template for defining leadership within your company)!

Employees That “Get It”

After seeing first hand and talking to many CEOs, here are common qualities among their favorite teammates and leaders.

This is the anti-I don’t want to talk to you list.

Top Startup Employees & Leaders:

• Help others

• Do what's right for the company

• Are a trusted sounding board

• Raise concerns + problems but also have solutions

• Do their “day job” with excellence

• Be positive, appreciate others, celebrate wins

• Proactively teach teammates, recruit new employees, make sales connections

• Communicate well

• Follow through and do what they say

• Acknowledge mistakes

• Don’t wait for permission to do the right thing

• Don't wait for someone to tell them it’s ok to be a leader

If you or someone on your team is not getting the career progression they want (“Why did Brenda get promoted but I didn’t???”), it’s likely they could improve in one of those areas.

Yes, there are tactical details not covered in that list. But it’s rarely about a specific skill or project. It can almost always be traced back to a higher level pattern.

Here’s what I didn’t say: Be really, really smart.

Of course, you need to be smart ENOUGH. But when a lot of smart people are in a room, attitude trumps aptitude every time.

What the heck is a Leveling Guide? (+Template)

As your company grows, here is another resource that may be helpful as you think through things like:

• Who gets what title?

• Who is on the leadership team and why?

• Where can this person develop as a leader?

• Why is PersonA a Vice President but PersonB is a Director?

This is a very basic Leveling Guide Template that I’ve used as a starting place at several companies:

You can also use this for inter-department job levels and get specific about technical skills (e.g. the difference between Jr and Sr Engineers or SMB and Enterprise CSMs) or milestones (e.g. close $1M in revenue to move to Sr Sales Rep).

If you have a full time HR person, they will scoff at this and have something better. 😁

Did someone come to mind as you read this article? Have you been looking for specifics to share with an employee or getting vague feedback from your boss?

If you’re looking for a way to start the discussion, feel free to share this blog or use bullets from the list!

What are qualities of top startup employees? What do you look when promoting someone? Anything you would add or remove from the list?