The Entrepreneurs
While startups encounter a number of challenges, from raising capital to building their brand to reaching their market, they do have some built-in advantages over larger, more mature organizations. Young enterprises are more likely to take risks and think creatively. They are usually small and agile enough to quickly adapt to changes in their market. And collaboration and communication are more readily achieved by a smaller staff than a large organization. In short, the entrepreneurial mindset so many firms seek tends to come much easier to them.
All of the aforementioned qualities lend themselves to growth, but can be difficult to maintain as an organization matures and as creativity gives way to policies, procedures and a burgeoning bureaucracy. The trick for any maturing organization is to grow without losing the key cultural elements that aided their success. Fieldglass, a Chicago-based provider of services procurement solutions, has proven to be particularly effective in putting the kinds of policies and procedures a maturing organization needs in place without stifling the creative, entrepreneurial mindset that has fueled their success since the firm opened its doors in 1999. Their secret: placing a premium on communication while gradually, and strategically, introducing structure.
Fieldglass has grown considerably in the last six years and today is a company with more than $10 million in revenues and a staff of 70 professionals spread across multiple departments. Though an organization of this size is hardly monolithic, the company has found it has to work harder at communication than it did in 1999.
Management promotes communication between departments via quarterly interdepartmental meetings. For example, the sales team will meet with the implementation team, giving them a chance to discuss how they can best work together.
"The meetings help people understand each other's challenges, which engenders respect," says Executive Vice President of Operations Debbie Brown.
Fieldglass also holds bi-annual, all-company meetings during which they discuss strategy, go over key financials and celebrate accomplishments. This sharing of information extends to the firm's day-to-day operations. For example, employees share knowledge extensively through instant messaging and e-mail; and when the company lands a new client or receives kudos from one of their customers, the employees involved in these accomplishments are recognized via a broadcast e-mail to the entire staff.
"There is so much person-to-person communication," say Sarah Thilges, a project manager for the Direct Client Services team. "You are not alone; you are not an island. You're a part of a team, and everyone gives each other help and feedback."
While Fieldglass works to encourage cooperation between departments, it gives each team a lot of flexibility regarding policies, particularly how they handle issues of work/life balance. For example, Sales Development Representative Brian Hartford is pursuing a degree in finance. Some of his courses convene during the workday and his manager allows him to adjust his schedule to fit them in. The firm also provides employees with the flexibility to work at either of their two offices (downtown Chicago and Naperville, Ill.) or, in some instances, from home. By driving authority for scheduling issues down to the departmental level, the company has managed to maintain the flexibility of a startup as they've gotten larger.
The firm has, however, reached a point where increasing complexity has made more written, companywide policies a necessity. For example, Fieldglass is in the midst of developing its first employee manual.
The company has always been able to secure employee buy-in for changes to their policies and programs by soliciting input from the staff. According to Chief Financial Officer Jim Holtzman, most of the company's policies and programs are employee driven. For example, the firm recently instituted a more comprehensive benefits package that was shaped by the results of an employee opinion survey. Oftentimes, changes to the organization's policies are a matter of simply being open to what employees have to say. For example, Fieldglass did not have bereavement leave until an employee asked for it.
"The best employee is an employee who speaks up," says Holtzman.
Another key is ensuring employees feel they have a vested interest in the company's success. Fieldglass fosters that mindset through a three-tiered bonus program that is based on individual, department and company performance. The bonus is based on departmental and firm-wide objectives such as profitability and client satisfaction as well as individual goals that are set by each employee during their annual performance review. The bonus pool does not begin to get funded until the firm has achieved 60 percent of its annual target and is not fully funded until they hit 100 percent of their target. What's more, every employee is eligible to receive stock options and a majority of the staff owns equity in the firm. As a result, employees understand that they have a stake in the continued success of Fieldglass' operation and take ownership of their work.
Fostering and maintaining an entrepreneurial culture has paid off for Fieldglass in a number of ways. The firm boasts an annual turnover rate of less than 3 percent. In fact, the firm lost a grand total of five people in its first four years of existence. Employees frequently will go beyond the call of duty to satisfy their customers as evidenced by the fact that the firm has never lost a customer in its existence. What's more, employees regularly take the initiative to improve efficiency and client satisfaction. For example, with the firm lacking a good customer relationship management application to assist their customer support function, two employees took it upon themselves to develop a program on their own time, saving Fieldglass hundreds of thousands of dollars. Another employee developed a reporting tool that is currently being used by dozens of the firm's customers. By building this application in house the firm has saved upwards of $250,000.
According to CEO Jai Shekhawat, these kinds of benefits are just part and parcel of the environment Fieldglass has worked so hard to maintain. "We foster open communication as a matter of course, and the environment values good ideas and rewards initiative," he says.
Company: Fieldglass
Web Site: www.fieldglass.com
Industry: Information Technology
Location: Chicago, Ill.
Number of employees: 70
Sales: $10-20 million
