<![CDATA[lovEdtech - Blog]]>Sun, 28 Apr 2019 22:13:31 +0100Weebly<![CDATA[Sorry, you cannot hire Start-Up Mentality (nor should you want to)]]>Thu, 04 Apr 2019 17:02:48 GMThttp://lovedtech.weebly.com/blog/sorry-you-cannot-hire-start-up-mentality-nor-should-you-want-toI have seen a number of adverts for jobs with start-ups and they all want something called "start-up mentality" and I am afraid I need to burst that bubble - it doesn't exist. Nor should it. If you hired everything you want from "start-up mentality" it will destroy your business. 

Firstly let's look at some of the things people expect to be part of this "start-up mentality" and what each of those will actually look like in business.

1) You want someone who loves your business/product as much as you do. I get that this seems dreamy. But you cannot expect to hire someone who loves it as much as you, can you? You need to develop that love within the role. Imagine your business is your baby. That's how it feels, right? You grew this perfect baby and now you need to hire someone to take as good care of it as you do. So you want a baby nanny. That is fine. But they won't arrive loving it. It's your job to create an environment that allows them to fall as much in love with your baby as you are. A nanny does not want to look after, let alone love, a toddler who kicks and bites and screams all the time because you aren't helping enough with discipline. If you want them to love your baby you need to work at it too. You can't just dump it in front of them and leave them to it unless you have already made sure the right scenario is in place. From a business perspective that includes being very realistic about where your product or business is at. If you are needing to launch something that isn't perfect yet then be honest about it. Don't try and blag your way through. And if you are too close and have your rose tinted specs on, listen to your hires when they tell you there are problems. And fix them. Then they will start to love your baby as much as you because they have become part of the nurture group themselves.
2) You want someone who will work all the hours under the sun to get the job done.Now any business, at any stage, can expect employees on a salaried wage to pitch in and work late when needed. If you have a big launch coming up, or an investor meeting, or a trade show...etc etc... then you can expect to rally the troops to add some extra hours for a week, maybe even two, to get things perfect. They will run on adrenaline and get the job done. Then they can experience the high of finishing and stepping back to see the fruits of their labour. That's absolutely fine, expected even, and helps to add to loyalty if you then reward it. Show your appreciation by bringing in pizza and doughnuts, or having a night out to celebrate, or give everyone a day off in lieu as thanks. Whatever you want to do to show you get that they have sacrificed their personal lives for this and they did it. Even if it wasn't perfect (cos you maybe overestimated the timescale or their capabilities) but reward what they attempted. HOWEVER, what you cannot do is have a team of people who will constantly work long hours. It's not sustainable. If the stress level hits a high for a week but then peaks and drops back after achieving an aim that's like the reward you get in a computer game. It's healthy stress. But an ongoing expectation or too frequent use of that goodwill and adrenaline becomes unhealthy stress. You are going to burn out your workforce.

Another element of working people too hard all the time is actually that you create an inefficient business. If you expect people to show their "loyalty" and "start-up mentality" by working over and above their contracted hours time and time again then they start to do too much "busy work" so that you see them work, rather than just doing an awesome job in half the time. Effective systems and processes are essential if you want to grow any business. You cannot scale 70 hour weeks. So don't start with them. I work with so many start-ups who hit a plateau due to an inability to scale what they currently do. Most of that was created back when they had "start-up mentality" and were "winging it." Don't wing it. Start with great systems and processes from day 1. Act like you have 200 employees from your first hire. Make sure paperwork and every bit of detail is logged correctly. Buy in systems which are designed to help with everything from finance and invoicing to customer service. Make sure employees use great databases from day 1 even if there is only one customer on them so far! An experienced hire can do more in 8 hours with good systems than a winging it inexperienced start-upper can often do in 16 hours. Make it efficient. It's key for growth.

3) You want to hire them cheap and train them on the job. Well of course you do. Who wouldn't? And there is a lot to be said for a keen graduate coming straight in with bounding enthusiasm and no real cynicism and it can work out well. But it's harder work for you too. I am not saying don't hire cheap and inexperienced. But if you do, be prepared to put in the hours yourself on mentoring them properly. They will not stay with a low wage if you are not topping it up with your attention, time and TLC. They need also to have some good quality training outside of the business. Send them on industry relevant courses. The more people you can get on your team with industry standard experience the better. So either pay more to hire them or take people on who are willing to go get the training if you pay for it. If you build a business without industry standards (even if you have to pick a similar industry as no-one else exists in your niche) then your systems and processes will always be that bit more haphazard and this will impact growth when you hit critical size and scale.

4) You want them to be part of the "family" and enjoy the "bantz". This one is a bit icky. I am reluctant to say it is a male-dominated thing but it mostly is when I think of teams where this has halted their progress. I work in tech mostly so it might be just there but there are often a couple of "lads" who built a product at their house and are now scaling. They have worked together for the last two years with no-one else. They probably went to uni together. Sometimes they are even related. So they are happy to sit around working in their boxer shorts together. And yes, they sometimes then expect their new hire to not mind them doing that still when they book away days and conference trips. That's the extreme. But even the other end of this scale are inappropriate jokes in the office "because we know each other well so we never take offence" which leaves your new hire out in the cold not knowing whether to just leave or to report you for inappropriate working conditions. This same attitude also leads even some sizeable companies to hire in their own family into high up positions without warning staff and this can create tensions. No matter who in your family has supported your start-up, or how skilled they might be and perfect for the job, everything must be transparent and no-one should feel they are the outsider. If you cannot maintain a professional relationship in the workplace then you will not be able to scale your business effectively without some hefty bumps on the road when disgruntled employees realise they are treated as second best for having the wrong DNA.

5) You want to hire people who are agile and flexible to go with the flow. Again that's fine to a point. But anyone should be like that at work if it means being ready to move quickly when needed. That has nothing to do with being a start-up. Every job requires times when people need to think on their feet, or be prepared to drop everything and change tack when something isn't working. In the start-up world make sure mostly that you aren't mistaking 'having no real focus or direction' for agility. It's not the same thing!

You don't want start-up mentality to grow your business. You want FTSE100 mentality from day 1. Act like you are already in the big leagues. Otherwise you will struggle to ever reach them. Get the right systems in place, create proper processes before you hire people (or hire someone experienced enough to create them) and then hire experienced people or train up graduates or apprentices effectively.

Even nannies get to go home at the end of their shift. And they get a good wage! If you want your baby to be well looked after then hire the right people, ignore the "start-up mentality."