In the early days at Hive AI, when we were still a hectic start-up with under 20 employees, I am most proud to have led the first push within the company to build processes and create a healthier workplace. This required balancing the urgency and ambition of the CEO and CTO with the team’s need for a sustainable and healthy work culture.

Every lost hour is significant at a start-up. However, very few employees can receive incessant urgency from executives and turn that into optimal productivity, avoid burnout, and stay happy. Similarly, the frequently changing priorities at start-ups can be frustrating and disheartening to employees.

Having earned the trust of the executives as someone who shared their urgency and high standard for output, I used that trust as leverage to pick my battles and shield the team from the less productive start-up turbulence. Early on, this meant implementing simple, lightweight improvements like using week-long sprints, creating documentation, and improving how the design and engineering teams interfaced. A vital part of being successful in building processes like these was knowing when to let the processes be circumvented, but using that privilege judiciously.

Improving the work culture also meant giving team members a chance to influence product direction, making sure that they felt their work was being valued, and supporting their professional goals.

Most of all, leadership during these growing pains required equanimity. I had to frequently manage executives’ frustration with certain outcomes or respond to my team members being unhappy with myself or executives. I had to be the calmest one in the room, stabilize situations, and find solutions where others couldn’t. I feel that I was uniquely well-positioned to succeed in that role, and I believe it was an important inflection point in the growth of our company.