Change for Start-Ups

You’re hot. You have no trouble attracting engaged, productive talent and keeping their passions alive. It’s easy when you are a small band of merry rebels disrupting markets, working late nights and getting tons of press buzz. But it keeps you up at night when you think about how to keep that cultural DNA, passion and drive alive as you scale to investor expectations. Does any of this sound familiar?

  • You attract top talent because you are small, nimble and bureaucracy-free but you know at some point your growth will demand more set practices.
  • You don’t want to lose the soul of what made this a great place to work but you are only one person and you need to hire hundreds or thousands in multiple cities around the world. How can you inspire them from afar?
  • You started this company with passion and a big idea but the more people you hire, the more removed from the core culture people will be. How can you keep them engaged and committed?
  • You’ve seen other start-ups “sell out” as they grew and you desperately want to avoid that so you can continue to attract the best people and change the world.

You suspect that you can avoid many of these pitfalls if you put the right things in place know to preserve your culture and evolve the way you want as the organization grows. But what can you do differently?  How can you maintain the beating heart of your beloved organization as you grow and scale?

The best weapon you have to shore up this foundation before it’s too late is to create a workplace environment where people and innovation can thrive.  Where retention goes up, turnover goes down and future leaders grow and blossom. Where your people buzz at maximum productivity, you crush your numbers and your growth skyrockets. And where great talent is lined up outside your door, begging for the chance to come inside.

It’s possible. We’ve seen it. But you have to create this environment with intention, it doesn’t just “happen.” No matter how fast you’ve gown, this transformation is within reach. And there’s not just one way to get there. It’s time to throw out the assumptions about what people need and want. Time to make decisions based on insight, and not just plug-and-play solutions that you pray will work. Solutions that work for another company may not work for you. You have different environments, industries, variable…and PEOPLE.  It starts with customized tweaks that are right for you and your people. It may require small changes in some areas, or one big change in another. You may think your people want the moon, but that’s just not true!

Sounds great. But how do we make this happen?

Rodskog Change Consulting can help you put the right foundation in place from the very start based on what’s right for your industry, your culture, your people and the work you need to do. Together, we’ll craft a “Future State Vision” that’s customized for you and only then create the path.

  • DEFINE THE CHALLENGE: First, we bring clarity to what you really want to achieve. Are you looking for more growth, more engagement, better press, a bigger talent pipeline?  Which impacts do you want to make and how can they be measured to you know you’ve succeeded?
  • GET THE LAY OF THE LAND: Second, we can’t transform until we know where we are now. We’ll take a detailed snapshot of your current state and what’s really going on. Where are the random bright spots that are currently working so we can replicate them and where are the glitches so we can adjust and find a better way?
  • DISCOVER THE INSIGHTS: Third, we’ll assess how work is getting done and what your people need to bring their best to work for you every day.  How can we really engage them to join us in our vision and take on the crusade?  Often, it may not be what you thought, like a ping pong table or free lunch every day! What does the work environment need to hit all our goals based on what we need to do and how our people work? We take a 360 degree view of the industry, current constraints and new models of working and deliver insights from both sides: How best your work gets done and how your people work best. These insights reveal opportunities to make big and small changes that will have impact for your company and help us create The Big Picture of our desired future state:  If we maximize all these opportunities and create  the best, what will our organization look like?
  • DEVELOP THE SOLUTION:  Now we bring change management principles to bear to carefully plan how and when we’ll achieve this future state. What are the processes, systems, structures, leadership training, strategies and tools we can put in place to achieve this transformation over time? This journey is often a mix of quick hits to gain momentum and see progress as well as longer-term initiatives.  For example, depending on goals, these programs can be anything as large as implementing a new performance  management system or a new strategic alignment process or as small as simple transparent leadership practices and behaviors – things we like to call “Just Do It’s!”
  • CREATE THE PLAN: Now it’s time for the nitty gritty. What are the costs, who are the teams and what will be the timeline for rolling out these changes. We get down and dirty and break the vision down into achievable, realistic tasks that you can start implementing. Rodskog Change Consulting can either leave the plan in your capable hands or we can help you implement any of the solutions right alongside you.

Ready to take your first step toward transformation? Contact us today.