Enterprises often idealise the intense and purpose-driven culture of startups. In the hopes of remaining competitive, corporate management may even try to emulate and encourage certain aspects of startups in hopes of creating the same level of growth and innovation. However, behind the ‘cool’ and ‘fun’ reputation of startup culture is never-ending hard work, pure determination, and agility. Startups have a ‘make-it-work’ attitude simply because they have to; the survival of the company depends on every team member.
These are the ways the start-up mindset can benefit your company and result in success:
1. Decreased time to market (TTM)
Time to Market (TTM) represents the time it takes from the inception of a product to the product’s release in the market. Companies that are faster to market have a better chance to grab market share and maximise the return of product launches. Rather than trying to perfect a product before launching it, a Minimum Viable Product is created and launched quickly to collect consumer information as the product develops. This minimises the costs of a long production process and focuses on consumer response.
2. Decrease operational costs
The start-up mindset forces companies to become efficient in their resource management. This pushes them to think lean and look for alternative inputs to increase efficiency and save resources. The simple solutions are often the best.
3. Better customer experience
Launching products with a small number of features that bases their product on customer feedback gives start-ups the ability to interact with their customers in near real-time. With a better understanding of customer and market needs, start-ups can develop products with higher customer satisfaction.
4. Increase organisational effectiveness
The result of all this is an increase in a company’s organisational effectiveness. Processes are streamlined, overhead is reduced, and the time it takes to receive market data is shortened. All in all, it allows an organisation to run a more efficient business that is more effective at meeting customer needs.
Is it possible to have a startup mentality, even at a large multi-national company? We say yes! While certain aspects will be different, it’s possible to capture the essence of a startup with the right attitude. Encourage your team to take ownership and continue to involve them in your decisions to foster a founding mentality.
Here’s how you can energise your team with the startup mentality and a founding mindset:
1. Encourage more questions
All ideas stem from asking questions. How can you better your product? How can you improve this service? Having an open space, physically or mentally, fosters a collaborative environment
Have an open space, be that physically or mentally, where people can collaborate. By throwing ideas around, talking and developing them, you will evolve.
Your employee’s opinions are important and can offer invaluable insight into different aspects
2. Embrace change
Corporations are notoriously rigid and slow-moving in their processes. Have an interesting idea to pitch to management? It’ll take a month to go up the chain of command if your manager even approves it in the first place. Too often in bigger companies, we see complacent employees with never want to take initiative or come out with new ideas. “Someone else will take care of it,” employees often remark in a large corporation. Employees of large companies often feel helpless in the face of company policies and decisions because they do not feel heard. This quickly drains any enthusiasm in them, which can quickly form feelings of apathy and indifference towards their work. Are your company protocols and structures impeding your ability to adapt to changes? Increasing, many companies are transforming to streamline processes, removing protocols, flattening management structures and embracing new ideas to maximise operational effectiveness.
3. Remember your mission and goals
What does your company stand for? What values was it built on? As cliché, as it sounds, having a common vision for the company, gives everyone a purpose, which is necessary for anyone to find the passion for their work. The entrepreneurship spirit in startups gives people optimism a drive to transform the world. Does your company believe that they’re making a difference? Having a sense of purpose fuels intrinsic motivation, the magic ingredient that drives individuals to work on their goals despite the lack of external rewards. Motivation at your company soars, and results can be groundbreaking.
4. Inspire your team
Having a motivated, dynamic team of individuals who are constantly producing creative ideas won’t work if the management isn’t willing to accept change. The passion must start from the top for it to flow to all employees. Employees will never be inspired by a leader who just goes through the motions without any drive.
Leaders need to provide a purpose and instil a sense of passion in their team before expecting the same kind of motivation from the rest of the company. Be the leader your team needs and keep them motivated. Over time, workplace motivation can dip, but if you are constantly supporting your team, reminding them of the great work they have done and what they want to achieve, you can keep spirits and productivity high.
The startup mindset is beneficial for companies of all sizes. Aspects of a startup mentality that corporates should focus on are creativity, agility, an appetite for risk, change and disruption. Ultimately, the goal is to keep everyone sharp and focused on the goal and they are prepared to change the status quo. Freshen up your workplace, inject the life and excitement back into it, and reap the results!
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Looking for the right talent to scale up your startup or simply looking to hire talent to boost your business? WeLinkTalent is a human capital consultancy specialising in executive search and startup recruitment. The right talent, the right opportunity. Follow us on LinkedIn and learn more about our services.
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