When you’re starting a new business, aligning your people with your business goals is a critical piece of making your company successful.
Here are seven people strategies to help your startup prosper.
1. Create an authentic culture
As soon as you can, establish your company culture. Every successful business is built on a positive and consistent company culture. It’s the foundation that your business stands on so it can’t be left to chance.
Your culture is born from your company’s values and beliefs. What’s important to you? How do you want your employees to feel when they walk in the door?
For example, are you an innovator? A customer-first organization? Or, is safety a first priority?
2. Establish a meaningful mission
Go ahead and write down what your company culture expectations are by establishing your mission, vision and values. This will give you and your employees something to look to when making business decisions and prioritizing projects. It will help keep everyone on the same page.
- Mission: Why are you in business? Your mission should tell the world what makes your company unique. It’s why you do what you do.
- Vision: A vision statement is how to accomplish the mission. It’s measurable.
- Values: This helps to define behavioral expectations. Your values explain how the company expects employees to work.
You must commit to upholding these guiding values and principles as a leader. Your employees look to you and your leadership team to demonstrate your mission, vision and values each day.
3. Uncover and develop your next generation of leaders
From executives to supervisors, compelling companies have compelling leaders.
Are you also developing your employees to be leaders? Do you have confidence in your people and their ability to lead, should that opportunity arise? Or, say you have employees with leadership potential – how are you best using their talents?
Carefully consider how you could be developing your managers and your employees. Development can include anything from training to mentoring to hands-on experience.
4. Fuel your growth with the right team
To fill your company with employees who will align with your mission and thrive in your work environment, culture-based recruiting will give you an edge. You want a productive workforce and a team with a vested interest in the success of your business.
To get an idea of whether a candidate is the right fit, behavioral-based interviewing is a must. Ask candidates how they handle different scenarios.
For example:
- How do your colleagues rely on you?
- How did you adapt to a recent challenge?
- How did you help a teammate solve a problem?
Don’t just try to get a job filled. Look for people who demonstrate that they can align with your company’s mission, vision and values.
5. Set a positive tone from day one
As a startup, you may have to sell prospective employees on the viability of your business as much as they need to sell themselves to you. At the end of the day, it takes more than good pay and benefits to win candidates over.
Your recruiting, hiring and onboarding efforts will set the tone for the employment relationship. Examine your job descriptions. Be specific about skills, education and other requirements for the position, so candidates understand the jobs they’re being hired to perform.
Your goal is building trust, loyalty and a long and happy employment relationship.
6. Boost productivity with regular performance reviews
Want to motivate and grow employees while boosting your bottom line? Measuring, tracking and rewarding employee performance can do just that.
Here are a few tips to get you started:
- Explain how every position supports company growth.
- Develop goals that are clear, direct, measurable and actionable.
- Give constructive feedback frequently to let employees know how they’re contributing to your company’s success.
- Don’t forget to include development, communications and leadership goals to help develop your workforce.
Make sure to tie goals to rewards and recognition. While employees do value raises and bonuses, also consider alternative motivators, like performance-based promotions, increased or preferred job duties, training opportunities and increased leadership.
7. Gain traction with training
Can you offer more training to help employees boost their skill levels?
Training provides your employees with required skills, develops a diverse workforce and promotes the importance of employment compliance. A good development plan will provide a competitive advantage, reduce absenteeism and turnover, and increase productivity and revenue.
Your training can include anything from job shadowing to mentorship to participating in formal training, workshops or conferences. Build development plans specific to each employee.
Want more HR advice?
To learn more about Insperity® and how we can help you reach your vision, visit insperity.com.
