Come With A Solution

My first real job was at a small boutique HR consulting firm here in New York. By many accounts, I was thrown into the deep end and I love being forced to learn a lot quickly.

One pearl of wisdom I learned at this time has helped me in my professional career a great deal - and I feel it has particular relevance at a start-up. It's a simple concept: Come with a solution.

Employees should be expected to take initiative. They should be given responsibility, they should work on meaningful projects, and have tools and mentors at their disposal. Naturally, questions, dilemmas and problems are par for the course - but every employee should think through possible outcomes and present them, along with a proposed solution.

If your team isn't doing this, ask them to. It will help you quickly navigate the tons of decisions that need to be made and more importantly it will empower employees and help them grow professionally.