From Start-up to Scale-up
Here are a few questions that entrepreneurs, especially in the early stages of the company grapple with: The above and many more questions related to people management are so important to think about when scaling up. Early-stage companies that have many issues to deal with including product/market fit, competitor analysis, and customer attraction tend to overlook the need to spend time on adopting effective people management practices. Attracting and retaining key talent is listed as the biggest challenge for entrepreneurs. Even then if you ask the entrepreneurs how much time they actually spend on looking through profiles and talking to potential candidates, you will be surprised. Startups can make many mistakes in the early stages but making hiring mistakes is often listed as the most costly. Here a are few points to help you develop a strategic approach toward attracting and developing key talent: Understand whom and when to hire Often entrepreneurs take a short-term view of attracting people. This backfires as the hiring needs keep changing in a fast-growing organization. It is important to take a step back, analyze your future hiring needs, and then develop a long-term hiring strategy. At this stage, it is also important to pay attention to organization design. How do you want to approach organization design? How should I define roles and responsibilities? Are there any gaps in leadership positions? While it might be time-saving to delegate some of these tasks, you must play an active role in key hiring decisions. Spend time with potential candidates, talk to people in your network, and build a pipeline. It is important to understand your company culture before you look at hiring people. It is impossible to build a cohesive team unless there is synergy in terms of values and aspirations. Value your efforts in selecting the best fit as this will lead to long-term gains. Sell your vision When you are thinking about attracting key talent, think about what’s in it for them. Sell the vision of the company to help people understand where they can be in the next few years. Help people connect with your aspirations and think clearly about their career progression. Define what this opportunity means to them and how they are going to add value to your organization. Be ready to clear doubts that potential candidates might have in terms of roles and responsibilities. Acknowledge that you might not be sure about everything, however, you have a clear vision and are committed to the organization’s goals. Leverage information to understand whether you are offering attractive salary packages at par with the industry. Revise your compensation strategies, if needed. Develop your people skills Developing people management skills is paramount, especially in a fast-changing environment. People skills are not only needed when engaging with customers and clients. They are equally important when managing people and teams. Good people skills including communication, delegation, empathy, emotional intelligence, and leadership. In today’s world, good people management skills are the key to building effective teams, better products, and successful companies. Entrepreneurs who understand the importance of prioritizing people over products can engage with employees, build relationships with stakeholders, and understand customer needs. One of the key steps for entrepreneurs towards scaling up is to reassess where they are allocating their resources because their success lies in the people who become part of their journey. #startups #entrepreneurs #people #hiring #talent
