How to Maintain a Start-Up Mentality as Your Business Grows

At a big innovation conference earlier this year, I listened to a consultant present on what makes start-ups so innovative, and how Fortune 500 companies can learn from them. It got me thinking about the resources that could be saved if companies adhered to a few specific principles as they grew that would enable them to maintain an entrepreneurial environment that fosters innovation and creativity.

A small organization has a few key circumstances that facilitate and at times even necessitate innovation: flexibility, a relatively flat hierarchy, closeness to the customer, and ever present resource constraints. However, as your small business grows out of the entrepreneurial stage, how do you still maintain an environment that fosters new ideas, creativity, and innovation?

The following are a few tips to get you started:

Hire every employee as if he/she is your first employee 

An entrepreneur friend of mine once told me that a good employee is someone who you’re satisfied with, but a great employee is someone you would be willing to pay twice as much for. Remember your first hire? How you searched diligently, prepared interview questions beforehand, called all the references, and stressed out for days trying to decide if it was the right choice? Remember your latest hire? Maybe you’re still as stringent about hiring today but often as a company grows, the CEO becomes less involved and hiring becomes less of a rigorous process. As your company grows, try to maintain that same diligence in hiring all of your subsequent employees (from employee number two to employee number infinity).

Empower your employees

Recently, a few studies have shown that independence and the feeling of empowerment contributes to employee satisfaction. Give employees a certain amount of autonomy, and be comfortable with giving up some control. Make sure teams have the ability to make day-to-day decisions without having to ask for permission.

Limit resources to inspire creativity 

Even when your company is flush with money, don’t spend as if this is the case. Challenge your teams to make smart choices with limited resources. Reward teams that are able to achieve great things while staying within a limited budget. When teams have to work within limits, they are forced to come up with creative solutions.

Stay close to your customer

Start-ups are often spearheaded by individuals who have experienced a common problem and have come up with a solution that is meaningful to themselves and their customers. The founders and initial employees are in-tune with customers and can nimbly respond to changing customer needs. Make sure that as you grow, your entire organization (even employees who don’t interact with clients) understands the customer completely. Form a consumer advocacy group, start a company blog that allows customers to interact with employees, and/or have yearly off-sites where company leaders shadow customers to get an inside view of their day to day challenges.

Along with the above tips, make sure you are fostering a climate of innovation and creating a workplace where it’s well known that a good idea can come from any department.