Pitfall 7. Not building the right team
Posted: Sat Dec 21, 2024 4:14 am
Target tried this in 2013 by buying two startups . The integration failed and nothing is left of either startup. However, when a startup is bought for the technology it developed, this is not the case. For example, Google bought Waze for its real-time traffic technology. They applied this technology to Google Maps and they let Waze's existing subscription model collapse. This was a successful approach.
Everyone knows that talent in your company is one of the biggest factors for success. Not dealing with it well is what holds companies back on their path to disruption. The biggest issues :
Not being able to retain talent properly because no autonomy is offered, there are few growth opportunities and there is no flexibility in working. And in addition, with a tight labor market, offering a top salary should not be an issue.
Your team does not have a customer-first mentality as discussed in pitfall 2.
Having a team that is afraid to make mistakes. A good team tests and learns quickly (also known as growth hacking ). A prerequisite for this is that people should not be afraid to make mistakes. You have to learn from your mistakes, so having a 'fail fast' culture is essential.
Your team is not multidisciplinary. As a result, issues are not examined from enough angles and people cannot benefit from each other's knowledge and skills to get the best out of the team. There is too much thinking along the same lines and the team is not very innovative.
Everything is controlled from the head office. This means that you miss insights from people who know the local market.
Guru geeks are hired to run the company. These people often have exceptional skills in specific digital areas, but are not trained in building or growing a business. Hire the right person for the right role.
Outsource certain aspects outside your team. This is possible, especially in the beginning with startups, because it offers flexibility and reduces personnel risks. But you should insource as soon as possible. By insourcing, you prevent faltering workflows and inefficient work. Coolblue is a good example of this. They insource the delivery of white greece telegram data goods, because this last step was often the biggest point of dissatisfaction with the end customer.
A book with examples and cases
The book Make disruption work (aff.) is written in English and specifically aimed at the CEO. The subtitle is ' A CEO handbook for digital transformation '. I found the book interesting, but I wouldn't describe it as a handbook myself. I think it focuses more on mindset than on being very practical. For a CEO probably fine, but for me it lacked a bit of depth. If you're talking about putting the customer first, I expect a handbook to also provide instructions on how to do this and that the emphasis is on the practical aspect.
What I liked while reading, were the examples that were clearly stated with each topic. And what I found brilliant are the cases at the back where reference is made to the pieces in the book. That is very cleverly done, and very useful if you want to look up the theory behind the example again.
In practice
After reading the book, I mentioned it a few times during conversations at the office. For me, this makes the difference between good and bad books. So it is certainly not only suitable for CEOs. In addition, I notice that I can also use the knowledge in my work towards my clients. For example, I use the examples in the book to reinforce my story when I think that clients should invest in something. And also to convince them not to outsou.
Everyone knows that talent in your company is one of the biggest factors for success. Not dealing with it well is what holds companies back on their path to disruption. The biggest issues :
Not being able to retain talent properly because no autonomy is offered, there are few growth opportunities and there is no flexibility in working. And in addition, with a tight labor market, offering a top salary should not be an issue.
Your team does not have a customer-first mentality as discussed in pitfall 2.
Having a team that is afraid to make mistakes. A good team tests and learns quickly (also known as growth hacking ). A prerequisite for this is that people should not be afraid to make mistakes. You have to learn from your mistakes, so having a 'fail fast' culture is essential.
Your team is not multidisciplinary. As a result, issues are not examined from enough angles and people cannot benefit from each other's knowledge and skills to get the best out of the team. There is too much thinking along the same lines and the team is not very innovative.
Everything is controlled from the head office. This means that you miss insights from people who know the local market.
Guru geeks are hired to run the company. These people often have exceptional skills in specific digital areas, but are not trained in building or growing a business. Hire the right person for the right role.
Outsource certain aspects outside your team. This is possible, especially in the beginning with startups, because it offers flexibility and reduces personnel risks. But you should insource as soon as possible. By insourcing, you prevent faltering workflows and inefficient work. Coolblue is a good example of this. They insource the delivery of white greece telegram data goods, because this last step was often the biggest point of dissatisfaction with the end customer.
A book with examples and cases
The book Make disruption work (aff.) is written in English and specifically aimed at the CEO. The subtitle is ' A CEO handbook for digital transformation '. I found the book interesting, but I wouldn't describe it as a handbook myself. I think it focuses more on mindset than on being very practical. For a CEO probably fine, but for me it lacked a bit of depth. If you're talking about putting the customer first, I expect a handbook to also provide instructions on how to do this and that the emphasis is on the practical aspect.
What I liked while reading, were the examples that were clearly stated with each topic. And what I found brilliant are the cases at the back where reference is made to the pieces in the book. That is very cleverly done, and very useful if you want to look up the theory behind the example again.
In practice
After reading the book, I mentioned it a few times during conversations at the office. For me, this makes the difference between good and bad books. So it is certainly not only suitable for CEOs. In addition, I notice that I can also use the knowledge in my work towards my clients. For example, I use the examples in the book to reinforce my story when I think that clients should invest in something. And also to convince them not to outsou.