Vision & Mission · Team Culture & Setting Examples · Morale & Work · Care Personally
The soft shit. Important stuff that might be a given but nonetheless very important. This includes everything that is not concrete or directly work related, but is as important. Inspired and taken from Blendie Employee Handbook.
It's really important for everyone on your team to not only know what to do, but why they are doing what they do and what the impact is and how it fits into the bigger picture. You, as a project lead, probably constantly think and talk to each other about this. But your team members don't have that clear of a high level picture and context. Here are some ways to close the gap:
"Great results are the byproduct of many people making individual decisions that collectively result in an organization moving in the right direction. You will never be able to fully control the how. People must be trusted to improvise when the situation on the ground changes. But you can control the vision*.* You can get people to understand why they’re here, and what it will look and feel like if we succeed. When you spend time talking about the why, once is not enough. Twice isn’t either." - Julie Zhuo
Read Team Culture & Dynamic. Some things to emphasize is focus on Team Culture early on! Even at a slight detriment to your team efficiency in the beginning. I guarenteed you that once your members feel comfortable around each other, are able to respect each others differences, and actually work together, your output would be much higher compared to just diving deep into the project without getting to know each other. So Start EARLY! Set up a team bonding activity outside of your dev nights the first couple weeks.
In addition, lead by example. What you stand for, what you believe in and how we treat each other matters. Look into Effective Leadership for more. As leaders, we get the opportunity to synergize, pulling different people and their skills together, unifying them, empowering them to create something greater than what each part can do all totaled up. Inspire trust between everyone, openness, more giving, less defensive or protectiveness. It starts with you and your partner.
The small things matter. People look up to you, even unconsciously. Beware of how you behave during all-hands, how you carry yourself during your meetings, whether you come early, how you help members etc. Watch your smile, your tone of voice, the way you look at people, the way you greet them, the use of nicknames, memory for faces, names, dates. Any seemingly innocuous and trivial actions matter. This in turn will affect the way your members behave and deem "good" to do.