Ways to Invest in Your Team: Quick Tips for Startup Owners
Take a closer look at some of the most successful startups on the market and you will quickly notice one thing in common: they all invest in their employees or teams and treat them as assets. While a valuable brand and a product that meets customers’ demands are great in ensuring a startup’s success, having a strong, capable team is still the foundation of that success.
There are more ways to invest in your team while keeping them productive. These quick tips will help you get started in no time.
A Sense of Ownership
A good remuneration package and a healthy working environment can only do so much. While these elements can help you attract the best team members and keep them happy (and productive), there are other things that are more effective in achieving the same goal.
A sense of ownership, for example, is a powerful thing to develop. A lot of successful startups offered their employees more than just salary and rewards. They offer key team members a part of the company as well.
Once employees begin to feel that they also own the company, they will be more motivated to work harder and smarter towards growing the company and ensuring its success. The impact of this small investment is truly profound.
Trainings and More Skills
Investing in training for employees is another approach you should consider. There are two main benefits of training employees. First, you can prepare them for more important roles and equip team members with the right set of skills the startup needs.
The second benefit is higher retention rate. While other startups may (and will) try to steal your key team members, the fact that you’re allowing them to grow with the company will persuade them to stay.
You can also take it a step further and encourage employees to pursue a higher degree. Business development officers can take an online MBA degree from top universities such as the Northeastern University. The marketing manager can also benefit from taking one of the best online MBA programs to sharpen his or her skills.
Freedom and Creative Control
Another great thing to invest in when you want to develop a strong, effective team is creative control. Your team members may have brilliant ideas that will help the startup grow. They may even have revolutionary product ideas to meet customers’ demands. All you have to do is provide them freedom and creative control.
Even the big names do this. Google, for instance, let employees work on personal projects and use company resources to make prototypes or develop solutions. Other startups are taking the same route and have produced great innovations as a result. Your startup can gain a lot by taking the same approach.
Employees are assets; they are the biggest assets a startup has – bigger than equity and infrastructure. By investing in your team members, you are investing in the success of your startup and securing a bright future for the company and its workers at the same time.
