THE HIGH PERFORMANCE ENTREPENEUR by Bagchi Subroto

Author:Bagchi, Subroto [Bagchi, Subroto]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
Published: 2008-05-31T16:00:00+00:00

NINE

Getting Good People and Keeping Them

In chapter 4, we talked about choosing the start-up team with care and explained how complementarity of the seed team is a critical element of success. But the seed team alone cannot deliver the mission and vision of the organization. It is here that attracting and retaining professional talent becomes the next important thing. You may have a great product or a service idea, you may be able to raise the seed money and buy technology and build infrastructure. None of this is of any value unless there is continuous top-management engagement to attract and retain talent. In today’s hyper-competitive world, the war for talent precedes the war for market share. Given that, where should one start?

When we started MindTree in 1999, we paid extraordinary attention to the first forty critical positions in the company. We felt that if we chose the first forty MindTree Minds right, treated them well and empowered them, they would in turn take care of the first four hundred. That is how the concept of fractal leadership works in building an organization. If one does not pay attention to this, scale becomes difficult to achieve. Building sustainable businesses is all about building scale.

While looking for talent in certain functions, one has to be extra careful. In the beginning, we spent an enormous amount of time on this, looking at many candidates before settling on key positions in Quality, Finance, Marketing, Sales, the People Function and Training—we call it Culture and Competency (C2). But filling up senior positions with the right kind of people requires one basic discipline. You must have a written job description for each role and a clear articulation of what kind of competency is needed to fulfil the role. This not only helps to be objective about the choice of the individual but also gives the incumbent a sense of professionalism. When looking for a functional head, you may come across someone who is good but has growing up to do. Do not commit the job title—you can always tell the person that if he or she matures well enough, the title will follow. If you think the person has a lot of growing up to do, be honest about it. Say that he could start off with the job but sooner or later, you expect a more senior person to take overall charge and under that person, you do see growth for the incumbent.

When we were starting MindTree, to most of the incumbents of the first forty critical positions, one of the founders personally presented the mission, vision, values and business plan of the company at the selection stage. We spent individual time with them. We sought a value match, a sense of destiny, strong competence, ability to multitask and resilience. To each, we spoke about the inherent risks of working in a start-up company. We made sure that we were straightforward in dealing with their questions and issues.

Not everyone is cut out to work in a start-up organization.

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