Collaborative Future — This is a blog series by the people, for the people, thus, helping create a better collaborative world. To participate in the global discussions on the future of work, business, lifestyle & commerce, mail us your insights at business@colco.app
The approach is what really matters.
Small is big these days where the monolithic traditional business giants are being outsmarted by the burgeoning of agile startups and small firms. Even though the large firms have bigger paychecks, the tech talent these days is being lured by something other than money. The flexible working environment and autonomy to choose how they want to work and what tools or methods they want to use, being the drivers for them. They get a chance to work with the newest technology as it is these startups that are bringing cutting edge products to the market.
New-Age Workforce, the one driving the world’s economy, appreciate companies and businesses who have a clear mission and where they can feel part of that bigger picture. The money or perks are not the only factors attracting the best talent but it is the work autonomy (Covid-19 has fast-forwarded us to that stage now).
When we say approach, smaller firms, the wealth-creators of the future, take a leaner & more agile stance than their bigger competitors. Their peculiar mindset is —
1. Quicker Response
The unwieldy bureaucracy of the traditional market leaders finds it difficult to expedite the decision-making process. This, in turn, leads to delays in delivering the product. In today’s disruptive and tumultuous market one needs to work closely with the customer and adapt quickly to the changing environment, which is what these agile startups are equipped to do. These small entrepreneurial firms always nurture a team that is high in morale and productivity, thus, resulting in a better time to market and a better quality of work than their traditional counterparts. This is how their mindsets differ widely in terms of speedier execution.
2. Procure & Nurture Unlikely Talent
Big companies go to big schools for hiring but agile startups, due to smaller size & quicker decision-making, can take a closer look at the talent from most unlikely sources & are quick to nurture them and bring the best out of them. Zzish, an ed-tech startup, was able to find it’s talent herd from amongst the so-called “failures”. Charles Wiles, an ex-Google executive & founder of Zzish, says that he is happy with those who either flunked in school or didn’t perform well in universities but have shown their mettle in other forms. He has been able to bring in talented people to his company solely based on his product, which is geared towards providing help to students in doing better at school or colleges. According to him, a team fares well if they like to work with each other.
3. Clarity Of Purpose
Red-tape, complex rules and decision-making processes make an employee feel out of place in big organizations. On the other hand, pioneering agile startups provide them with a purpose and story which makes them feel empowered. They feel that they are also a big part of shaping the product and have a say in the direction of the company. Future is more about co-creation & co-ownership based on trust and accountability which will consider everyone involved a part of something bigger.
4. Location & Culture
These startups prefer to have a location that is away from talent hungry bigwigs. For one, the cost of living is less if you are away from such cities so is the commute time, which makes the location attractive. A genuinely inclusive & inviting culture giving employees a sense of belonging, which supports excellence & brings the best out of them, helps build a collaborative bond. Being small allows a free flow of ideas and opinions which is fun and motivational for the workers, thus, giving their employees a space to evolve and solve problems together. Some of these firms also offer profit-sharing schemes, fun and flexible working environments, and top-class learning and development programs.
5. Let People Shine
Instead of controlling and directing people, agile startups focus on creating geniuses. Multiplier by Liz Wiseman elaborates more succinctly that those leaders are best who rather than showing their brilliance are engaged in letting their people grow and shine. The challenging tasks are delegated to people with the provision of support, encouragement and knowledge sharing. They clap for their people when they have a win and take the beating if something goes wrong. Such a support system only can retain and grow talent. Small companies implement unconventional talent practices to ensure a high-quality supply of talent.
6. Autonomy Coupled With Alignment
Agile & speed-oriented startups can afford giving their employees, the contributors to their bottom line, a disciplined autonomy wherein they give a budget, an objective and leave it to the employees to colour this blank canvas with tools and techniques they wish to. This unleashes their creative side when they see their idea of becoming part of the organization’s strategy. Some companies have special days they fix as ‘challenge days’ wherein employees are engaged in core business objectives to exercise their entrepreneurial skills. But this autonomy can create chaos if you just let loose a bunch of people to move in their respective directions. So there has to be a glue that binds and aligns them to their goal. Spotify pioneered this concept and scaled enormously fast by the method of forming tribes and squads.
Apart from being agile, smaller connected companies can manage their customers even better. As Dave Gray talks about in his book The Connected Company, the disruptive market can only be dealt with by being connected with other companies. By being connected they can be at a deeper level with their workers, customers, and partners and give their competitors a run for their money.
Future won’t be the same again, for wealth-creators of future are already here. Future will be more co-ownership driven where multiple participating stakeholders will be equally responsible for risks and rewards, thus, increasing the bottom line productivity.
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