It Starts With You: Evolving Your Leadership as Your Company Grows

Grit & Growth

What kind of people and culture do you want in your company? How will you engage with employees and lead effectively? And how do you figure all that out while growing revenues? Human resources are rarely the first priority of leaders, but they should be. Just ask Sachin Dhanani, co-founder of Kenyan-based Danco Capital, and his HR adviser Claudia Salvischiani.

Leadership styles are as varied as entrepreneurs. And they certainly change over time as companies grow. But the very best leaders put their people first, create meaningful ways to engage, get out of the way so others can step in, and establish a culture where values are reinforced—day in and day out. That’s what Sachin Dhanani learned firsthand (sometimes with difficulty), thanks to expert HR help from Claudia Salvischiani

Dhanani clearly had a lot on his plate, growing his manufacturing company from four to 240 employees in seven years. And HR issues always moved to the back burner as a startup. Salvischiani helped Dhanani evolve as a leader, developing different qualities to meet the “grown-up” company he was running.

Salvischiani explains that lack of employee engagement is often at the top of a leader’s concerns. But she goes on, “People behave in the way they're being managed. I'm absolutely convinced about this.” She believes communication is essential for engagement, explaining your strategy, your goals, and how people can contribute. Creating effective meeting structures, she says, “can have a really transformative impact on how people feel within an organization.”

Dhanani put this advice into practice and saw immediate benefits. “So every year we'll have a strategy meeting with about 15 key people within the organization. Although as a leader, you know where you want to go, I think it's important for them to feel as if they contributed to that strategy. And when they do that, then the buy-in is so much greater,” he explains.

For companies experiencing hyper growth, culture is often neglected, according to Salvischiani. She continues, “There is basically no link between day-to-day operations and values. So, they have these values, but they haven't thought about how to implement those values.”

Salvischiani understands how hard it is for CEOs to shift their roles and move into unknown territory. Implementing objectives and key results (OKRs) as part of a management feedback process can help. As she explains, “CEOs don't let go because they're comfortable in the operational work.” Dhanani now recognizes that “delegation is an artwork. It's a form of leadership. It’s a muscle that we really need to exercise and we need to learn. And what's important is that the person that we're delegating to is not going to do it in the same way that we are, but if we can measure how they do it, then it enables us to build confidence. And I think that's key.”

Hear how Dhanani altered his leadership as his company grew and get practical advice from Claudia Salvischiani on the value of implementing key HR practices and strategies to create the culture you want and the performance you need.

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