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

<p>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.</p><p>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</p><p>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.</p><p>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.”</p><p>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.&nbsp;</p><p>For companies experiencing hyper growth, culture is often neglected, accordi