How To Get Your Employees To Think and Act Like Start-Ups

I had the opportunity (my first time), to listen to a bunch of start-ups as they shared their ideas and progress to business leaders in an informal interaction. A recent article – Linkedin’s founder explained ‘how to run a great start-up’ served as an excellent reference for me as these businesses pitched their stories and what made their ideas unique.

Watching their presentations made me realize how different these youngsters (in their early twenties) were in their attitude and approach. Many facets of their personalities that stood out to me; and it got me thinking about how engaging employees to think and behave like start-ups can have a profound impact on the organization’s overall value.

What follows are my observations and essentials managers can think of while engaging their teams:

Pride: From the energy that the group demonstrated to the passion with which they responded to questions it was evident that they took immense pride in what they conceived and launched. What struck me most was their interest to make a tangible impact to the world around them and do so collaboratively. Every idea put the customer at the heart of their efforts and all their actions suggested that the attention was never going to fade.

Does your team’s agenda and work seem like a start-up getting to its goals? Is there a culture that helps employees take pride in their work? Is the stakeholder at the heart of your solutions?

Recognition: Each of the presenters spoke of the awards they won and how their start-ups were listed among the ‘to be watched’ set of organizations in various forums around the world. Recognition from peers, industry bodies, real-time feedback from customers and clients mattered a lot to them and I could see the glint in their eyes when they spoke of how valued they felt to make a difference.

Can we get our employees to actively seek peer and stakeholder feedback and build it into your plans? How often do we take the time to spot great performance and raise a toast? According to research studies, the shelf life to recognize employees is a week!

Focus: I liked the single minded focus on their business and what it meant to improve the lives of whom they touched. Each felt their idea was the most powerful since the invention of the telephone! Not once did I notice any hesitancy in them articulating their idea – they knew the nuances of setting up a business from scratch. They were making incremental progress each day – tweaking designs, going the extra mile, integrating feedback that mattered and testing it back with audiences who cared. It definitely sounded like each day brought in exciting and often challenging scenarios and they were unwavering in their focus.

Do your employees know what makes your business unique and it is different from competitors? How can you help employees make incremental progress in their daily work? The Progress Principle gives us a hint.

Resilience: As we are aware that many start-ups don’t survive long enough to tell their story. Despite it being a tough world out there these youngsters clearly displayed they were willing to hold their ground. The confidence and persistence they showcased was clearly infectious. I could see how the leaders sitting in the room warmed up to their presentations and were probably wondering why they never thought of those ideas themselves!

All of us like heroes but we have a special place for those who take the less beaten path, are willing to get knocked down and still don’t give up. How often do we encourage our employees to take risks at work and support them when they fail? There are instances when tough stakeholders and unrealistic expectations can whittle down our morale. What can we do to encourage employees to keep their heads up high in times of trouble?

Humility: Despite being ‘tweenagers’ they were mature individuals, simple and down to earth and spent very little time pitching who they were in terms of their backgrounds – even though they had every right to feel extra special. They didn’t have the air of ‘we know it all’ or ‘we will soon be billionaires’ but were open to taking feedback and were eager to be mentored.

What can this attitude teach us about helping our employees stay grounded in the realities surrounding us?

All great organizations were once start-ups in their own sense. If managers can help their teams go back to the basics, imbibe and hold on those values and essentials which defined how it all began there is every possibility that organizations can benefit immensely.