Working with humans is hard. Not in complaining kind of way. More in a way that we are all different with our own set of rules, ideas, biases, opinions and mental models. The more I grow as a leader, the more I realise and notice the beauty of it. It kind of becomes playful, discovering new ways this one person works or behaves, in comparison to others.

At work I am currently focused on kicking off new teams. Building a team from the ground up. This is super exciting, cool topics to work on, bringing people together, creating flows and basic working structures. But it can also be a bit nerve-wracking. It will take a while that those teams will flow well together. They have to understand each other first, they have to find their own way. In addition to working on roadmaps and plans for the future. I wish I could have a magic wand and make that happen right from the get go, but I can't. Therefore I have to apply something that I sometimes struggle with - patience.

Patience can be quite important as a leader and human being. We each have our own speed of thinking and doing things, we need time to adapt. That is what I am doing right now. While I am still trying to give those teams the best starting ground, I need to also be patient and give them time to bond.

A few practical things that I am doing right now that might be helpful for others:

• If possible maybe don't setup new teams with all new hires, add 1-2 team members that have been with the company. This will help with sharing knowledge and speeding things up a tiny bit.

• Be transparent and open that the initial phase will be a bit chaotic and that you all need to find your way. Meeting structures will change, processes might be build or destroyed, and so on. Reinforce the nature of change.

• Make it fun - get to know each other. Don't waste time with status updates. Use the time to bond, ask icebreaker questions, talk about life, or exciting goals that you want to hit with the team.