Five Common Management Challenges Startups Face And Ways To Fix Them - Issue #7

The nature of everyday operations in startups is prone to different challenges such as management, financial, operational, legal, etc. Today, we are going to see 5 common management challenges in startups and ways to fix them.

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1. Talent management at leadership level

As a company founder or leadership team member, which question do you usually found yourself asking, “What can we do next and why should we do it?” or “How can I accomplish this now?”

If you ask the first one, you’re more likely to be visionary; and if you ask the latter, you’re more likely to be an integrator.

Although it’s not always an either-or situation, sure is a rarity to find people who exhibit both characters. And when that is a case, companies bring the one that they lack and pair with the other creating a duo leadership such as Disney (Walt and Roy Disney), Ford (Henry Ford and James Couzens), and McDonald’s (Ray Kroc and Fred Turner) where one saw a future, while the other made it happen. 

As a company grows, these two roles become crucial to realize its full potential – with the visionary charting the company’s future and the integrator executing the vision through day-to-day operations. Besides, this duo can inspire a value-driven company culture where employees are accountable and excited to come to work.

Here are two tips to facilitate smooth relationship between the visionary and integrator leader

1. Define clearly the roles of each leader -  helps reduce confusion over roles and responsibilities.

2. Communicate regularly -  ensures that the integrator is paving the way to the destination the visionary sees while everyone is in sync as a united front. 

💡 To help you with this, have a formal check-ins with each other at three months, six months, and one year to examine procedures and approaches to challenges.

If the task of talent management (at leadership level) is prioritized, it can speed up the success of a business by assigning tasks to the right person and by making performance and progress measurement easy.

2. Undefined or uncommunicated company values

Values define the company culture and contribute to the overall employee strategy — from attracting to retaining talent. Therefore, establishing core values early on help shape the team’s behaviors (by enabling everyone to incorporate the company’s value into their performance) and help make business decisions that best align with its values.

3. Unclear objectives and tasks

The lack of clarity on tasks and responsibilities for employees causes confusion about what they are supposed to be completing, ultimately harming productivity. Therefore, objectives should always be clearly defined. They should also be visible to employees — whether it be through a shared workbook, project management tool, or performance management tool. 

4. Undefined development and progression strategies

Quick career development and progression is one of the biggest perceived benefits of joining a startup. Hence, creating a clear salary, compensation and career development structure early on is critical, so that startups can avoid problems as the company begins to scale. While competitive pay will always be a driving factor in retention, remember other elements like great company culture (such as autonomy), bonuses, gifts, flexible work, promotions, paid leave, career development and training are also as equally important. Once these strategies are defined, leaders must make sure that they are clearly relayed to employees.

5. Lack of feedback systems

Since employees are usually doing an array of different tasks in startup, feedback between team members can serve as a strong motivator. Managers working in startups must also realize that feedback is a double-edged sword — poorly given feedback can be worse than no feedback at all. Thus, the goal is establishing a healthy and tactful feedback culture early on. And, managers have to lead by example – by asking feedback from their direct reports and giving feedback frequently. Feedbacks also should be documented in one place in order to help managers and employees view past feedbacks and track progression. 

Conclusion

To be successful, startups often adapt and change their strategies and objectives rapidly in response to the challenges they face. Managerial challenges are one of those challenges that require strategic response since they are directly proportional to the success of a company. These strategic responses should also be clearly communicated with every team member/employee to ensure everyone is rowing in the same direction.