The Simple Solution to Scaling your Startup (using an unseen resource within your business you could easily start tapping into today…)

If your business has less than 50 employees, you are not alone.

Very few startups manage to grow to that level.

In conversations with small business owners, I’ve noticed a key frustration in relation to this is the huge and annoying cost of recruiting as well as replacing valuable employees you’ve already invested in.

You invest time and money finding the right person, then training them up and embedding them into your cultural norms, only for them to move on to a new employer and you have to start the whole process over again.

Of course there are many factors that lead to high turnover including:

• Leadership style
• HR admin complexity
• Company culture
• Losing touch with customer needs

The list goes on….

But WHY do so many struggle to get this right?

What I’ve seen, working with over 25 companies on their recruitment projects, is that the problem always comes back to ineffective communication.

So what’s the solution?

I’ve found, that most business owners have a rich treasure trove of information laying dormant in their startup. Information buried just below the surface, that could transform every aspect of employee and customer experience. Information that would increase staff retention and hasten your progress toward that magic milestone of 50 employees and beyond.

So what is this sorcery of which I speak?

You may have heard it spoken of as…

Feedback!?

Or simply put,?

asking your people what’s going on for them.

This isn’t in team meetings or quirky cool ‘All-hands’ meetings, it’s a case of fostering a culture where you regularly ask team members how they are getting on in their role and what needs to be changed. Crucial to this is fostering an environment where people feel secure enough to share their feedback too.

The benefits of fostering this ongoing dialogue are many but here are the main ones gathered from feedback sessions I’ve conducted over the past three years across the tech start-up landscape….?

Employees feel valued.?

Being valued leads to a happier (and more loyal) workforce, which leads to higher productivity, increased revenue, and the opportunity to grow further.

Employees are engaged?

Engaged employees offer a greater focus and brain-power to overcome the challenges that their company faces in their pursuit of growth.

Employees bring great ideas!

Believe it or not, they do. They are closest to the coal-face, and they hear most of the customer complaints and suggestions that stop a business from improving.

Massive cultural impact.?

Employees are the lifeblood of culture in a workplace. Understanding the culture that they live and breath is critical to hiring and retention (growth!).

Employees determine our success and failure.?

Getting a pulse on how these changes are being received helps a business to continue to evolve in the right direction.

Feedback challenges the status-quo.?

A mission-driven organisation should get comfortable with the uncomfortable questions (and their answers!), and then sometimes make difficult and disruptive decisions if they are to progress.

One size doesn’t fit all. As companies grow, they typically become more diverse. If you are recruiting top talent they will likely come from wide and varied backgrounds and consequently will think, work and act differently. In addition, if your people are growing in their role then their thoughts and behaviours should be evolving and changing as their employment journey progresses.

Therefore…

One of the key things you can do to accelerate your start-ups’ growth is to put a structure in place to gather and utilise your employees feedback.?

Understanding the power of this feedback can:

• Greatly reduce staff turnover,
• Accelerate growth, and,?
• Open up wonderful opportunities for your business to grow in myriad profitable directions....?

In my next article, I will cover how to effectively gather feedback…. but for now, just consider how much great information you might be missing out on because you don’t have a culture of having these kinds of conversations.

If you found this post thought provoking, please consider sharing with a colleague, giving it a like and following me for more insights from the world of effective tech recruitment.