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Start-ups offer entrepreneurs so much promise and excitement – a real chance to explore a new idea and break a mould without restrictions. Or, does it?
Whether it’s your start-up, or you are looking to work for a start-up, basic human resource support is essential to ensuring the organisation and leadership is working effectively to achieve great results.
Without a dedicated resource acting as your business partner, to look after hiring and retaining talent, you will find that:
- As a start-up founder – you’ll be drowning in contracts, interviews and performance measurements
- As a start-up worker – you may not get the coaching and development you crave to step up in your industry
When every ounce of effort is magnified in a start-up world, the right advice and expertise is critical to growing your business beyond the borders.
So do you need someone embedded in your organisation to make HR work?
Not necessarily. While in-house resourcing is always nice to have, HR consultants can be relied upon to understand your business and step in to help support you with the big decisions.
Getting the right fit is more important than you think
Finding a qualified candidate is only part of the struggle when you have a vacancy; arguably the most difficult element is making sure that the candidate is the right fit for your business and team.
A team that works together well can be virtually unstoppable, so jamming a square peg into a round hole can create unhealthy competition, adversity and stress. It isn’t enough that a candidate has the qualifications, they also need to gel with your team. Similarly, an unhappy new worker can taint the workplace environment and cost you in time and resources as you work to fix the issues.
A HR consultant can look at your organisational performance and make sure they select candidates that best fit the needs of that structure.
Cementing organisational values
There is a trend among young professionals to align with employers that have a strong set of values – in some cases, these values may extend to a social conscience.
To avoid the costly investment and replacement of new staff in your start-up, you can streamline the suitability criteria by ensuring candidates align with your organisational values.
In addition, discussing organisational values can add incredible significance to the interview and performance management process. It gives you an opportunity to explore the emotional and intuitive inclinations of an employee or candidate and discuss some aspects of the business that may not seem obvious to an observer.
Furthermore, an established set of organisational values can help form a solid framework of discussion and resolution if you need to address a change in behaviour or underperformance of a worker.
If you’re not sure what your organisational values are, or need them formalised, an HR consultant will be able to work with you to establish values that represent the business and where the business wants to be.
Ensuring leadership success
A high-performance team needs more than just a great leader. Succession planning is also a huge part of HR management.
Managing a start-up is a demanding and exciting job. However, very rarely does it allow time for a leader to self-reflect, workshop skills and identify emerging leaders within the organisation.
It is also important to note that start-ups exist without a typical hierarchy or framework in place to model specific levels of expectation. In these instances, start-up leaders need to turn to HR experts to ensure they are developing and improving their leadership skills as well as identifying future leaders. An independent HR consultant will be able to track your progress and give you critical feedback to make sure that no matter what challenge lies ahead, you lead your team to a bright and profitable future.
Furthermore, individual performance management will help reveal future leaders within your existing ranks – which is an absolute must for building longevity in your organisation with trusted and talented professionals.
Working through performance management
Few leaders get regular time to monitor and supervise the performance of their teams, and fewer still have time to create and execute a custom performance review that fits their structure.
This is where a HR consultant can help. Not only do they understand the important pillars that support a healthy working environment, they can spot and professionally manage areas of improvement before they become issues. Your HR advisors are your strategic partners for the future. With a degree of separation and some neutrality, a HR consultant can proactively workshop with an underperforming employee to improve their output and host the, sometimes difficult, discussions your or your workers need to discuss expectations and changes. You can consider your consultant as a trusted adviser who understands what makes your business tick.
Day-to-day, your HR representative can create programs that identify and manage the key areas you want your team to excel in, look after benefits, and can scale their involvement up or down depending on your needs.
Ensuring healthy workplaces
From managing on-boarding to running the day-to-day management of a workplace’s HR needs, a start-up cannot underestimate the value a HR consultant has on the performance of their organisation as a whole.
Working across multiple accounts in different industries, a consultant is able to point out industry best practices and behaviours, and help you create a better and healthier workplace. In addition, their experience across multiple disciplines means they can anticipate hurdles and swiftly guide the start-up to become a leader in small business people management.
Most importantly, using a consultant means that you can concentrate on running and growing your business – not getting bogged down in complex and often difficult HR tasks.
Getting the right HR advice early and often is instrumental to the long-term success and growth of your start-up, so take the guessing game out of your people management and get the right person on the task.