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In many small and medium-sized businesses, the focus is naturally on operations, sales, products and customers. It ensures survival on the short course. But if you want growth in the long run, more people should focus hard on high performance teams and psychological security.
Imagine a football team where players knuckle down but have doubts about what tactics to play by. Everyone is running strongly - just not necessarily in the same direction.
This is what everyday life looks like in some small and medium-sized companies: the energy is high, but the values and direction are unclear.
When everyday life runs high with operations, sales and customers in focus, the eye is easily focused on results here and now. It keeps the company in the game - but not necessarily growing. To move up to a higher league, it requires that the company's culture and values are clear and used as the compass by which employees navigate in everyday life. In management, they are known as high performance teams based onpsychological security.
Let me briefly explain the concepts and why they are important management disciplines:
• High performance teams are typically characterized by clear common goals, a high degree of trust and cooperation, and a focus on both results and learning. It requires a culture where differences are used constructively. It's not enough to hire a group of skilled individuals - it requires a community where the synergy lifts everyone higher than the sum of individual achievements. Just like on a football team. Roles and responsibilities are clear so that everyone can focus on delivering the best possible.
• Psychological safety is the fuel of the team. It's the feeling of being able to shout to your fellow player that you need help - without being made a fool of - or of admitting you made a mistake on the pitch - without being benched in the next game. If employees fear being scolded for mistakes, they begin to hide them. When there is psychological reassurance, dare employees to take chances - and speak up when they are under pressure.
What should companies pay special attention to?
Typically, there is no HR function in small and medium-sized companies that can drive cultural work. If it is an owner-manager, there is only one person who really has their hand on the hob, which - quite naturally - can limit employee involvement, learning and ownership.
Moreover, in smaller companies, it may seem superfluous to define values, decision-making principles and roles.” After all, we know each other” and “we can talk about everything” can be the reality of the owner manager and the employees who have been employed for a long time. But for new employees it can be difficult to gain a foothold if the framework is lacking.
We often encounter these two classic scenarios at companies:
• The newly hired employee is not being properly onboarded. She has ideas, digital skills and energy - but without a clear framework for community, collaboration and security, she loses the courage to contribute. Often she disappears again, and the company loses an important investment.
• The employee with 25 years of seniority has always done things his way and does not want to change behavior. If the culture allows her to shut down new ideas or speak behind the team, development slows down. One person can really stand in the way of the potential of many others.
In a growth phase, what does not work becomes enlarged. You can't create growth without a strong foundation. If difficult conversations are postponed, the problems grow. And small problems quickly turn into boring patterns, such as talking about each other rather than with each other.
What exactly should companies do?
In business terms, you can look at it like this: labor costs are one of the biggest investments, and it's therefore about getting the most out of the total amount of talent and knowledge.
All the partners of Crescita Partners have been there themselves. We know the everyday life of small and medium-sized companies, where everyone is busy and where culture does not develop by itself.
Our job is to be the mirror which can be difficult for the management of the company to keep up for themselves. We connect our experience from the world of management with a practical toolbox that the company's management can use directly.
Culture does not change in two workshops. It requires persistence, visible leadership behavior and repetition. In turn, the gains are tangible: faster learning, higher retention, better quality, stronger responsiveness - and thus a more robust, scalable business.
Once the foundation is in place, energy is released which can be spent on customers, innovation and growth. It's an investment that pays off quickly.
Want to know more? Contact me directly here -> https://www.crescita.dk/annette-sylvest-nielsen
