4 common people traps and 4 ways how to deal with them
The concern of losing customers or competitive advantage of the firm to the competition is obvious. The same is not the case with people. It’s a common trap for start-ups. People problems are difficult to identify, and it can be even more difficult to understand and implement the right measures. Often, the root of the problem lies in (Researchgate):
With investors pumping cash into the start-up businesses, coupled with competition to hire the best, start-ups often forget to create a proper human resource strategy to manage people.
This can have devastating consequences for the company, such as:
But, what does the workforce actually want? Let’s dig a little bit deeper!
A fact is that employees long for a meaningful job, and they want to be stimulated and developed. 87% of millennials rate growth and development opportunities as important to them in a job (Workforceinstitute). And Gen Z has even more specific needs. With regards to their own development they want (Deloitte, 2022) :
Okay. We get it. There’s clearly a mismatch here. Now what?!
Four hacks for startups to improve their current practices:
1. Design your organizational structures
It is strongly recommended to think and rethink your design while the organisation is growing because:
2. Ensure good two-way communication
Communication is critical because it affects trust. Please, as a leader, do not try to be the central point of communication. It’s not effective at scale. Instead, use a communication framework that also counts on other layers of management. An effective communications framework will emphasize fewer messages, more often, from more sources.
Next to top-down communication, bottom-up information is also vital. It often identifies “hot spots” of employee dissatisfaction and uncovers rumors. There are three ways to gather this information:
- Create a meeting cadence and culture where questions are celebrated instead of scorned, for all levels of employees
- Hold one-on-ones between managers and employees
- Hold regular, brief employee surveys, that ask the right questions
3. Integrate feedback into your routines and make development a priority
Future successful organizations should have development as a core value that the firm is organized around delivering.
Here’s what you must keep in mind:
4. Align programs to support your desired culture
After setting these company values and statements, the leader’s actions should align with the desired culture. Otherwise, cynicism and mistrust will follow.
It’s crucial to align programs, policies, and performance management processes with your desired culture. You can use the framework below to create alignment. We filled it in with an example:
We can solve these painpoints. Feedback. Simple, calibrated and action-oriented. Performance management at the push of a button. Schedule a Demo!.