Hiring the right people is one thing. Managing them is another. If you want to build something big, you can’t just throw a bunch of people together, cross your fingers, and hope they all get along and do their bit to make your business what you believe it can be. You need more than just staff; you need a real team. The trick is making people feel genuinely invested in the business and confident that their contribution matters. My tried-and-tested approach is what I call a 360-degree team.
The 360-degree philosophy
A 360-degree team is a group of individuals who are empowered to operate with full ownership, flexibility and accountability across a wide range of tasks, not just those outlined in their job description.
What sets a 360-degree team apart is the sense of shared mission and mutual trust. No one is boxed into a rigid job description. Team members don’t wait to be told what to do; they anticipate needs, offer ideas and take the initiative. A 360-degree team turns a start-up into a powerhouse of momentum, creativity and resilience. This culture only works when leadership makes a point of empowering people, valuing their input and treating them like partners.
More than money
Believe it or not, in 360-degree teams there is a lot less focus on money and, let’s face it, as a start-up you won’t have much to offer either in salaries or perks. But for a 360-degree team member, money isn’t everything. Money provides freedom, yes, but a sense of autonomy can’t be bought with money alone.
In my experience, this is the most powerful reason people stay with any of my companies: they value the freedom, culture and connection they feel every day at work. They have something that’s harder to find than money: trust, autonomy and a sense of genuine belonging. They can get on with their jobs, are treated like adults and don’t have someone breathing down their necks. Plus, they’re empowered to make decisions, be creative and grow in their own way.
That freedom creates ownership, and that ownership creates loyalty. If you can give your team even a taste of that – through flexibility, respect, a great culture and room to grow – they’ll stick around, because what they have with you is worth more than what someone else could offer on paper.
Don’t become the bottleneck
The final advantage to building a 360-degree team is one for you personally, as the company founder: it will help you scale faster and better. If you are obsessive about every detail in your start-up, that’s not surprising – it’s your big idea and you want to make it fly.
Yet, it’s easy to fall into the trap of having your hands in everything, just to make sure. You start off that way before you have a team because you have to. But if you keep operating like that as you scale, you’ll become the bottleneck. Things will slow down, decisions will pile up and progress will stall. Worst of all, you’ll be disempowering and demotivating your team without even realising it, as well as creating a lot of unnecessary stress for yourself.
Building a 360-degree team is the way to stop yourself from becoming that bottleneck. Be crystal clear on everyone’s responsibilities, what you’re trying to do and where you’re trying to get to, and then get out of the way.
How to build a 360-degree team
The secret to building and maintaining an effective 360-degree team is to create a family dynamic. A 360-degree team has each other’s backs, moves as one and genuinely wants to see the business succeed, because they feel like an important part of it – which they are. There’s a real sense of belonging and of showing up, not just because it’s a job, but because everyone believes in what they’re doing and who they’re doing it with.
Environment and culture
All culture is built from the top down. As the founder of the company, you must model the
behaviour you want to see and create an environment where the team feels invested in the business, rather than like hired hands.
To achieve this, I include team members in everything. We talk openly, brainstorm together, I ask for their opinions, listen to their ideas and treat them like they actually matter because, guess what, they do. When you use a flat structure where input is welcome from any and every level, people feel included in the company ethos.
I am also careful not to pretend I know everything. Most of my team are younger than me, and that’s a good thing. They think differently than I do. They see certain trends before I do, too. They also understand many platforms and technologies better than me.
It makes sense, then, that I give them the freedom to speak up, challenge my thinking and run with their own ideas. If I were arrogant enough to think I had all the answers, I’d have missed out on some of the best things that have happened in my businesses.
Final thoughts
Building a great 360-team comes down to trust. People do their best work when they feel valued, empowered and connected to a shared goal. Create the right culture, give people ownership and lead by example, and you won’t just build a stronger business – you’ll build a team of people who genuinely care about helping it succeed.
This is an adapted extract article from The Hustle Mindset, by Reece Borg
About Reece Borg
Reece Borg is an entrepreneur based in London. He is the author of The Hustle Mindset and has founded, scaled, and exited multiple businesses across finance, e-commerce, fitness, and technology. He is the founder of RB Business Consultancy, where he works selectively with founders and owners/operators at key decision points, helping them navigate growth, risk, and uncertainty. His work focuses less on theory and more on judgement, pattern recognition, and long-term thinking.
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