Business leaders and managers must recognize a fundamental truth: while a business employs individuals to operate and grow, for each employee, their job is their personal business.
This perspective shifts the dynamic, creating a work environment where employees develop a sense of ownership, accountability, and motivation. By nurturing their capabilities for both organizational growth and personal development, employees begin to see their role as more than just a paycheck. When rewarded for their contributions, they become more engaged, productive, and invested in the company's success.
Creating a Reward System for Excellence
Not every employee is inherently entrepreneurial, but structured systems for rewarding excellence and high performance—particularly when employees add value beyond the average—can drive motivation. However, when performance rewards are uniform or only marginally differentiated, passion and enthusiasm can diminish.
To ensure high performance and innovation, SMEs should implement incentive structures such as variable pay, bonuses, and performance-based rewards. These mechanisms must be:
- Fair and objective: Employees should have equal opportunities to excel, with contributions measured transparently.
- Clearly communicated: Employees must understand how their efforts translate into rewards and business success.
- Performance-driven: Rewards should be based on tangible, measurable outcomes, rather than subjective assessments.
Shifting from a Traditional to a Growth Mindset
The key question is: How can an SME transition from a traditional mindset to a high-growth organization?
Typically, a company grows in one of two ways:
- Strategic team members drive business momentum, leading to team expansion over time.
- The addition of new team members itself creates opportunities for growth.
As the organization scales, fostering an entrepreneurial mindset becomes essential. A simple yet powerful way to achieve this is by actively engaging team members in decision-making. Encouraging their participation fosters ownership, accountability, and innovation.
A strong question to initiate this shift is: "What do you think?" This question not only encourages participation but also reinforces the idea that collective thinking leads to better decision-making. When employees feel their input matters, they become more invested in the company's success, driving both personal and organizational growth.
Encouraging Data-Driven, Collaborative Decision-Making
When "What do you think?" is combined with data-based decision-making, the organization gradually develops an ethos of collective and collaborative decision-making. Over time, this approach transforms employees into a team of decision-makers working together to achieve a common goal.
Building a Team of Leaders
The more employees feel like decision-makers, the more they take pride in their work and the company's success. By fostering this mindset, SMEs can cultivate a team of engaged, high-performing individuals who continuously contribute to innovation and growth.
Leadership, at its core, is not confined to a title—it emerges when individuals take ownership of challenges and opportunities within their scope of work. When entrepreneurial thinking is embedded in an organization, growth becomes a shared responsibility, and long-term success is driven by a
Change Takes Time
During this process of transformation, there will always be first movers and laggards. Some employees will step up as leaders, while others will remain followers. Patience is key. While not everyone will become a leader, the goal is to foster better engagement and decision-making at every level of the organization.
By creating an environment that encourages participation, rewards excellence, and nurtures leadership, SMEs can transition from traditional, hierarchical structures to dynamic, growth-oriented organizations that thrive in an evolving business landscape.
