Chaos to Culture
ITS CHAOS !!!!
(Although a former founder called this COWS!!)
“OMG I have all these people!!! I love the managing the business and the portfolio, I need these people but do I have to manage them myself?”
This will sound very familiar to loads of founders or CEO’s across scale ups but more pertinently within the private markets.
Many organisations start with a team they worked with before. They have;
Success in starting their business and fund raising.
Need smart people to handle scale and hired a cool little team through referrals.
Before you know it you have people who didn’t join with the founders and need to understand what “us” means.
The newbies have ambitions, want to learn more and be rewarded in line with the market.
CULTURE - DEFINE “US”
This grows in the beginning people join you and its great!!!
If you can define what the deal is and what you want “us” to be like and stick to it then you a large percentage of the “bad HR stuff” will not occur.
I often get asked by new CEO’s; “Why do I need HR?”
Although not exhaustive the key areas are because…………
Speed
You will hire into an organized structure, defined roles and responsibilities. They are easy to sell, mean that the new people are productive earlier and see their path in the team. More importantly its clean and fast. Time is money!
Cost
With basic people needs being met your team will be productive quicker and you wont waste money rehiring. An engaged team will be bound to your objectives and give you free effort.
Risk
Immediately setting up basic guidelines and policy might sound dull. However, it immediately means your people know you have their back and can go a long way to defining what sort of employer you want to be. It removes a huge amount of people risk from your fledgling firm.
Human resources doesnt have to mean an army of people with a rule book. Starting off with some simple steps can add to your company performance while removing a big chunk of risk when its the last thing you need.
