Entrepreneurship seems to be a topic on everyone's lips, twitter feeds and smart phone screens these days.
The Government is expanding the Global Entrepreneur Programme (GEP) to bring more investment to the UK and Lord Sugar gave a big thumbs up to entrepreneurs this year by tweaking The Apprentice format to offer the winner a £250,000 investment into a business they will run, instead of the traditional six-figure salary on his payroll.
But once a new business is off the ground, the owners face a whole heap of challenges, such as managing the finance, people and recruitment, while bringing the company forward and creating growth.
The Epson Business Council - founded by the printer company Epson in order to support and motivate micro businesses - hosted a discussion today on talent management in start-up companies.
They brought together owners of organisations such as online retailers Notonthehighstreet.com, "posh pop" company Breckland Orchard and knitted craft company Donna Wilson, alongside the chairman of the Institute of Learning and Development, the chief executive of the Herts Chamber of Commerce and a board member of Institute of Small Businesses and Entrepreneurship.
Chaired by Green and Black's co-founder Jo Fairley, it seemed the challenges these micro businesses faced in recruiting and developing talent were not all that different from those of larger companies. However, the focus was slightly different.
Problems finding the right talent? For these companies it was a matter of finding the right "fit" with the culture of the organisation rather than people who already had the right skills.
Perhaps not surprising when the owners spend a lot of time working closely with every single employee.
Sophie Cornish, co-founder of Notonthehighstreet.com, commented: "It's almost the new employee engagement. If you can get people under your culture, you're half way there."
The group agreed on the importance of new recruits fitting in with the team. Claire Martinsen, founder of Breckland Orchard, argued: "In recruitment there was always something we looked for and that was attitude over skills."
She added that you can always train someone up in the skills they need but that the "fit" is much more important.
In fact, Donna Wilson, founder of her self-named knitted craft company, said that a particularly good method of making sure new recruits fitted with the company culture was hiring people who had carried out work experience placements with them as she got to know them before the recruitment process.
"It's really important that I get on with them. You have to have a rapport with someone," she explained.
However, there could be a slight concern here that, if cultural fit is confused with having the same qualities as other co-workers, the diversity of the workforce could be compromised. A study by the Employers Forum on Age in March found that one in six workers feel they have been discriminated against when applying for a job or promotion at some point in their career because of favouritism in the workplace.
The idea of cultural fit, though, isn't so much a case of cloning your current workforce as finding people with the same values who will enjoy working with the team and contribute to it.
Lynn Martin, board member of Institute of Small Businesses and Entrepreneurship, noted: "If you're looking for the same sort of person as yourself then problems arise as you will only recruit people with the same skills as you."
So it seems that, for micro businesses, culture is more important than skills when recruiting (As Martinsen said, you can always train them later).
What I'd like to know is if the same viewpoint is taken in larger organisations? Is cultural fit more valuable than a CV of skills?
| Tweet |
|
| Permalink | Email this |
