This week, we spoke to powerhouse multi hyphenate and six time founder, Lauren Currie.

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With an OBE, a “woman changing the world under 30” credit from  ELLE magazine and a top business women under 35 nod from Management Today, it’s safe to say she’s had an incredible career so far, and seems to be just getting started.

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Now, Lauren is the founder of UPFRONT, an organisation focused on changing confidence, visibility, and power for one million women and non-binary people.

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With a growing team and an increasing global reach, we knew she would have some insightful learnings to share with us on the topic of building a powerhouse team. And we were right!

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For Lauren, team building is about giving people the time, attention and intention they require. Read on for the full breakdown.

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⚡Knowing when to make your first hire

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The first person you hire can always feel like the riskiest. It took Lauren six years to make her first hire at UPFRONT which she attributes to not trusting herself to go full time and commit. She didn’t believe she would find people who would have the right skills to share in her vision for the business.

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But as time went by, running two businesses simultaneously, began to take its toll. And as Lauren wasn't ready to compromise or sacrifice either one of her businesses, her workload became increasingly difficult to bear alone.

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She began to notice that she was missing out on valuable opportunities, due to the fact that she was focusing on things that other people could do, as opposed to her core strengths and talents. As a result, she decided to take the big leap.

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Eventually Lauren made the decision to hire a PA. And even though it meant a little trial and error, she eventually found the right fit. Now in hindsight, Lauren knows that people will do amazing things if you give them the right tools to do it.

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⚡Hiring strategically…

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UPFRONT currently hosts a team with a wide range of different working styles, with some working freelance or part-time, others working full time and all working remotely. In building such a varied structure, Lauren holds one fundamental principle: finding people with the skills you need who believe in your vision.

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In order to find the right fit with such a varied structure, Lauren’s strategy involves having people come on board for a 3-6 month freelance contract period with the intention to move to a permanent contract if it works for everyone. This way she’s able to determine whether or not a candidate is the right fit.

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As a relatively fresh startup, it's all about making sensible, tactical hires for the business at its current stage.

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BUT, this isn’t something that she’s picked up overnight. Lauren also encourages founders to reach out to wider networks for advice when deciding on new hires to make.

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Over the years, having someone in her support network to provide input on her hiring decisions has been a huge help. She’s also recently invested in a coach to consult on  growth and leadership, as well as founders in her network that can act as mentors.

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⚡Hiring within your community, but also outside your bias…

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For Lauren, her second hire, Nagela Dales, was a happy accident. Originally invited as a guest speaker for one of UPFRONT’s events, Lauren found that their discussions challenged her and the business in ways that only a senior team member could.  As a result, Lauren saw the potential value in her as a senior leader in a longer term partnership and decided to bring her on as an in-house strategy director.

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Lauren also works with her partner Chris at UPFRONT. In the business’ early stages, it was becoming clearer that there was a gap in her team that matched Chris's skill set.

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For example, areas like operations processes, project management and data required the right attention and expertise within her team, and so having Chris on board meant they were able to grow by putting together their complementary skill sets.

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Although for Lauren, it's just as important to hire outside your core strengths. It can be a resourceful move to hire in relation to the expertise you’re familiar with. But you also have to hire for what’s best for the company, not just you as a founder.

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Additionally, we often have a natural bias when looking for who to hire, and so Lauren challenges us to make conscious and progressive efforts to hire outside of those biases,  which ultimately makes for a team of diverse skill sets and cultures, all while levelling the playing field.

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⚡Investing in team morale…

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At UPFRONT she makes sure people are compensated clearly and fairly so that her team’s needs are acknowledged and met.

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For example, UPFRONT provides support for therapy and employee rewards to support people where they’re at in order to encourage the best conditions to do their best work.

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She also makes a conscious effort to give feedback, and open channels to receive it, as well as public appreciation for her team’s contributions and achievements. This way, people feel that their expertise and work is valued.

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Lauren’s parting advice to founders is ultimately, your team is the most important part of their business, and if the right investments are made to make them feel seen and valued, they are more than likely to do their best work.

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What lessons will you be stealing from Lauren when building your own team? I’d love to know!

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PS: You can keep up with Lauren's journey on the UPFRONT website, Lauren‘s Instagram and on the UPFRONT Moment Podcast.