When you are starting your own business, the passion and enthusiasm levels are very different—and probably lower than when the startup becomes an established company focusing on data, customer retention, and strategy.
If you have ever been through the startup phase, you would know that the ‘work hard, play hard’ philosophy adopted by most startups has its own benefits.
Startups are not scared of failure—they are willing to experiment and break the norm; their people are almost always multi-tasking; they are eager to prove themselves all the time; and finally, they are out to change the world.
Here are a few tips to maintain a startup culture in your already-established business:
1. Allow people to perform cross-departmental roles
When a startup team sets out to achieve its goals, people are doing almost everything. There is no narrowing of positions such that people work in silos. And as people are involved in more than one core function, their involvement with the company’s visions and goals is much broader. In your business, if there are people capable of handling more than one type of role, let them do it. Cross-functionality fosters employee contribution in many ways, and overall performance and employee engagement improves.
2. Let people experiment
Startups fail all the time. However, the stronger ones spring back with new vigor and finally succeed. Established companies sometimes invest too much of time and resources in large-scale projects that may or may not succeed. Instead be open to failing on an everyday basis. This will teach you many lessons and let you grow wonderfully. Let the people in your team experiment and try new things. It’s a magical trait to be agile and open to change; reacting fast and shifting modes can sometimes give you a clearer vision and offer a better path to success.
3. Keep teams small and hierarchies minimal
If you have too many corporate-type leaders on board, it won’t hurt to have a few startup folks in the future. They come with their own passion and set of ideas. They would push people to perform with more vigor and not follow the rulebook all the time. Also, keeping the overall team size small will improve intrinsic team cohesion and work rapport. Flatten hierarchies as much as possible as open communication and an open style of management foster innovation and startup type of operations.
4. Value contributions strengthen sense of ownership
In a startup, most people feel it’s their company, and hence, the passion and energy levels are very high. To see a business grow from inception to mid- or large-scale is a journey in itself. If you already have an established business, make people’s sense of ownership in the company high. Value, recognize, and applaud even the smallest of their contributions and make them feel important in every way for the growth and success of the business.
It is never too late to go back to your core values and embrace a startup feel all over again.