Outwardly, everything runs smoothly in the startup world. But those who look at the employee reviews of a young company get an impression of what’s really going on behind the scenes.
26-year-old Viktoria Lindner knows some young digital companies from within, she prepares training startups for the growth phases with Done! Clients include the banking startup N26 or the Proptech company VRnow.
In an interview, Lindner explains what she does when the illness rate in a company is high and many employees leave their employer.
Viktoria, many digital companies emphasize the importance of corporate culture for success. A topic that is difficult to grasp. How can a culture be created?
This is actually difficult because culture can not be measured. While companies can set specific goals, such as a low rate of illness or few layoffs. But in the end, it’s about interpersonal relationships. For example, can you describe the culture in a family – and clarify the question of what your goal is? To survive? Often, however, we notice when something is wrong in the company.
Can you give an example?
We had a case where an employee did not feel valued by his executives, wanted more salary, and announced several times: I’m leaving now. By mail that went back and forth. His superiors were disappointed because he had been aboard since the first day and had an important key position. At the time of the consultation, we said: only more salary does not bring anything. Lack of appreciation can not be compensated by more salary. Then he is gone in half a year. We sat down with the executives and the employee and talked about everything for a long time. It was about the question: Why he does not feel valued. In the end he was much more involved in the decision-making process – and is now one of the driving forces.
What do you do when you realize that there is a high rate of illness and many layoffs in a company?
We sit down with the management and ask the question: what was the path so far? Often, the startups have grown from 20 to 100 employees within a short time. But many teams work only up to 100 employees, then form new groups. We then start with an analysis of the situation and ask: who are the executives? If they are experienced managers, they usually have to fit in first. This is not easy if many of the employees were there from day one and do not accept the verdict from the outside. If they are generalists who have worked their way up from trainee to leader, they first have to learn how leadership actually works. Otherwise, the vision of the company does not reach the employees.
Motivation is often associated with the founding team at the beginning. After a period of growth, it often happens that the key figures of the early days leave the company. How can the new leadership handle it?
It is very important to have a goal. Everybody has experienced this once before, when working together in a team to develop a common goal and a vision that welds together incredibly. Even with people you did not like before, you suddenly get along and work on the goal. Together, an enemy is overcome. In the event that the founders go out, he must no longer be the main force for the vision. It must continue to exist in the company.
Most young companies want to expand their business and increase sales. Is that a good goal from your point of view?
A number in itself is not very inspiring or motivating. Managers need to be able to tell a story around them that employees can visualize. Only then can one manage to address the motivation of the people. For example, when it comes to potential expansion, one must answer the question: why is it important to expand the business to Spain now? What specific problem does the customer solve there?
But when is a goal credible? Many companies announce that they will become the next Amazon, but none will probably succeed.
Especially in the startup area, there are many companies where people have said: What do you want with this idea? There are already several times. Or who needs that, please? The secret is often not in the very special idea that no one had, but to make it different and better. N26 is a bank. A business that has been around for a very long time. At the beginning, many were skeptical as to whether people trusted a startup with their money. Without branches, where the customers have a contact. The two founders believed in digitization and their vision – and convinced other people. Now they have more than two million customers.
What kind of startup problems do you observe that keep coming up?
In the growth phase up to 50 employees, we often see that it is important to show a career path to the individual employees. Questions like: Where can I improve? Which position can I still reach? How do I get more responsibility? Companies with more than 100 employees often have to expand into other markets. This is a big challenge for many companies. For example, the cultural differences between locations suddenly play a role. And the founders need to be able to let go so that the offices in each country can work on their own responsibility. It is also about very practical questions of communication in different time zones that need to be mastered.
Communication tools are an important tool for tech companies, many use for example with Slack. What do you think of the messenger?
Slack becomes, in my opinion, too strong a private chat in companies. The question arises for me how effective communication is with it. I’m a big fan of targeted meetings that take 15 minutes to complete with an agenda that has been prepared.
What exactly is the problem of Slack?
Slack gives a lot of efficiency loss. People interrupt their concentration phases, which are already a rarity anyway. You are shortened because you think: Now write and I have to answer him quickly.
What is the alternative?
There are tools in which the private chat is disconnected from the conversation about the business. I like project management tools like Asana or Monday. I think it’s better to communicate directly about the tasks or projects. You can directly see the comments and know what’s going on.
Also published on Medium.