The team at Google for Startups has been looking into the issue of leadership and how a founder’s people skills can make or break a new business.

Google followed more than 900 start-up founders, CEOs and CTOs across more than 40 countries. Its research team assessed the leadership of all these leaders in order to better understand what is meant by effective leadership.

The researchers published their findings in a report titled The Effective Founders Project. The publication contains detailed analysis, examples of good leadership strategies and tips for founders.

The report’s tips focus mainly on people issues faced by founders and how they can overcome these issues to be effective leaders.

According to research by Harvard, Stanford and the University of Chicago, 55pc of start-ups fail due to people problems.

Based on what Google researchers observed, the most effective founders have the following habits when dealing with people:

They treat people like volunteers
They protect their team from distraction
They minimise unnecessary micromanagement
They invite disagreement
They preserve interpersonal equity
They keep pace with expertise
They overcome discouragement

Google is not the only company doing research into how leadership skills affect a start-up’s future success.

A Barcelona-based consultancy for start-ups is calling on entrepreneurs from around the world to participate in research it is carrying out on what makes a great founder.

Wavveup has developed an assessment for evaluating and improving entrepreneurial performance. It is offering founders from around the world the chance to participate for free in what would normally be a fee-based service.

It is partnering with US research centre for start-ups, Blackhawke Behavior Science, to run what will be a pilot of the programme. It will then publish a research paper sharing its findings with the entire professional community.

For the assessment to be effective, participating founders should have at least five evaluators, such as peers, investors or direct reports. They will be asked questions about their start-up’s vision, strategy, problem-solving and decision-making, execution and operations, innovation, resourcefulness, collaboration and allyship, direction, influence, self-discipline, intensity and tenacity.

The test will also evaluate participants based on ethical leadership, integrity and coachability. Following the evaluation, each founder will receive a personalised report.

To register for the assessment, fill out the online form.

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