Blog: Key strategies to boost growth among employees in a fin-tech start-up

Performance Management

Key strategies to boost growth among employees in a fin-tech start-up

How a fin-tech start-up should go about empowering its employees to chart their own success story
Key strategies to boost growth among employees in a fin-tech start-up

For start-ups, prioritizing specific areas of growth is difficult since every function demands equal attention in the initial phase of operations. There are just so many areas to look at and develop your strengths in, such as product, sales, marketing, quality analysis, customer satisfaction, etc. that often many growing start-ups forget to focus on one very integral aspect driving organizational growth – the employees. 

Fin-tech is currently one of the most innovative sectors in the global start-up industry, introducing inventive technologies and creating a high growth sector that will affect nearly every industry in the future. Hence, it’s only logical that a sector boasting of such high innovation in terms of products and services must adopt progressive cultural practices to drive growth within the company and help establish a strong position for itself in the market. 

Companies that shift from conventional structural procedures and instead, adopt new policies that put employees at the center of the growth plan can experience faster evolution and realization of organizational goals and objectives. 

Here are five strategies that will help drive growth and improve employee performance:

1. Establish a flat hierarchy

Most traditional organizations are highly compartmentalized with a rigid vertical structure of hierarchy that poses a challenge to the implementation of a cross-functional system. A vertical hierarchy also implies that an employee's growth is subject to the vacancy in his superior's position and such a structure stifles growth. 

A flat hierarchy, on the other hand, leaves no constraint on the employees' growth, allows them to learn and grow in any direction and at any level. The current generation of young professionals prefers flexible and open work environments where they can explore various functions and flourish in their careers.

2. Enable learning on the fly

Another key habit of startups is that they refrain from hiring industry experts. If a person is already completely skilled in what he does, there are fewer chances of him developing and growing at work. This is the reason start-ups focus on hiring fresher,  because they enter your company with a clean record and the enthusiasm to learn. Let your employees learn new skills while they work so they have more than enough room to grow.

3. Allow multi-skilling

For an employee to be trained and developed for larger organizational roles, they must be allowed to understand multiple functions and undertake a diverse range of responsibilities. In the absence of compartmentalization of work, employees have the opportunity to get involved with other departments, roles and add new skills to their profile. 

Don’t limit your employees to only one type of work, but instead encourage them to learn the other aspects of business, which in turn helps the organization as well as the employees to grow rapidly.

4. Provide performance metrics

Quantitative metrics help managers ascertain an employee’s current position and where they need to be. It helps employees and managers to set realistic targets and work together to achieve them. As an employee’s performance progresses and meets the metrics, they can be given newer challenges to motivate them so they feel a sense of accomplishment. 

Managers who work with employees to ascertain periodic performance status can help employees achieve their objectives and lead them to the desired position on their performance graph. If progress is regularly measured, it also provides evidence of the efficacy of training and development support given to employees. 

Moreover, effective leadership combined with performance metrics can help push accountability in individual employees and ultimately for the entire organization.

5. Constant feedback

Feedback plays a major role in boosting an employee's morale and providing motivation for further development. Feedback must be regular and constructive and should include recommendations to develop   specific areas.  

An open line of communication ensures that employees are exposed to constant feedback at work to guide them through processes and help them obtain better results.

A culture of periodic feedbacks in the form of quarterly or monthly reviews helps establish a formal mandatory practice of bridging the gap between expectations and results, both of and from the employees. 

 

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Topics: Performance Management, Talent Management

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