Are you looking to scale your organization? Here are some processes and practices that we’ve implemented with our clients to help them grow – sometimes really, really, fast. Use them to help your company stand out in terms of how you attract and retain talent in your organization.
Start with Culture…
Build your organization with culture in mind. Start by defining values that tell a story that speaks to your people. You can literally use stories if you have them. We worked with a client that created their values statements based on examples of the behaviors that built their culture. For Red Clover, we defined four core values that drive how we work, the talent that we look for, how we compensate, and the clients that we engage.
Follow the Rules…
This sounds simple, but we see companies all the time that don’t do this…sometimes because they didn’t understand the rules they were supposed to be following and sometimes, unfortunately, because the chose to ignore them. Don’t do this. Hire and pay employees correctly. If they don’t meet the test for 1099 contractors, then hire them as W-2 employees. Find a good payroll provider for small businesses (typically not the large PEOs) and don’t pay bonuses in cash. If your employees are (or should be) eligible for overtime, track and pay it when needed. Last but not least, make sure you have an up-to-date employee handbook. It’s a communication tool above all else and you can use it to define creative workplace policies that differentiate your company from others and help take the focus away from compensation.
Process will set you Free…
Defined processes give you the structure and predictability to communicate efficiently and scale effectively.
For example, create a recruiting process that “screens out” for skills and “screens in” for behaviors and drivers. This means ruling out candidates that don’t have the knowledge, skills and experience to do the job and hiring people that exemplify behaviors aligned to your culture and behaviors. Create an employee referral program to shortlist candidates that exemplify your values. Then, take the time to evaluate every candidate thoroughly. If using an assessment, pick one that is appropriate for hiring. We are certified in DISC and Driving Forces and use TriMetrix DNA with our clients who have implemented assessments as part of their recruiting process.
We work with our clients to implement HR processes that cover the entire employee life cycle. For companies that are looking to scale, our IAP subscription program is often a good fit here.
Your people are Everything…
Create teams that offer diversity of thought, leverage individual strengths, and encourage everyone to bring their best to the job every day. We will often look at communication styles and preferences when we work with teams or train on leadership development. There are a couple of things that we have found to be true over the years. One, we have never met anyone who didn’t want to do a good job, but we’ve met a lot of people who didn’t know what good looked like. Two, if you raise the bar, people will try to hit it, every time. So, how do you reward great performance?
You may not be able to compensate at the same level of a Fortune 50 Company, but you can build creative pay programs that reward as the company grows. We’re not talking about sales commission structures here (though those are important), but rather incentive compensation programs that are driven by individual and organizational KPIs. For companies that are scaling, they key to this is to make absolutely sure that the funding pool is tightly tied to revenue or gross profit.
Lastly, effective communications is the foundation for every great organization. Establish reliable individual and team meeting rhythms that promote effective communications, engagement, and performance. Scaling up (you can also get the book on Amazon) has great resources on this. The key is to remember that if your company is in the process of scaling, then it is changing. And the key to every change management program is communication.
