Читать книгу The power of freedom - Ильдар Борисович Хусаинов - Страница 11

I’ll begin my story about developing the entrepreneurial spirit in my colleagues with a vivid example. We have a senior partner who earns a specific margin from all his revenue. He doesn’t need to invest anything back into the business: the company generates revenue, and he receives his income – that’s the formula. At one point, we suggested to our senior partners, who are the leaders of their small firms, that they include HR specialists in their sub-franchise groups to speed up the recruitment of realtors for their teams. The partner I mentioned earlier responded, “I’m not going to invest my money; I’m already getting my percentage.”

In contrast, another leader with the same status as a senior partner in his mini-firm reacted to the same proposal by saying, “I need that kind of specialist; I’ll hire one with my own money. If revenue increases, my income will grow too. I’ve calculated it – all of this is profitable for me.” As a result, we gained someone in our system who understood that such a decision was worthwhile. His income increased fivefold and continues to grow. Many others followed his example. This story illustrates how we can cultivate an entrepreneurial spirit in employees by motivating them to make effective decisions and invest in their own future.

Is it even possible to develop a person's ability to maximize resources and create new value? I used to think it wasn’t. I was among those who believed that a person is either born with an entrepreneurial spirit or not. However, with experience, I’ve come to realize that this isn’t true. After 24 years of managing a company, my perspective has completely changed. Several factors play a crucial role in acquiring entrepreneurial skills. The first is the mindset developed during childhood and throughout life. A person with a growth mindset will always outperform someone with a fixed mindset. If I believe I can’t change, then I never will. I know many people who love to say, “Those born to crawl cannot fly.” But I am convinced that those born to crawl can learn not only to fly but also to swim – everything depends on the approach. As a result, I began allocating significant resources for the training and development of my employees and partners.

A person who considers themselves a poor manager, incapable of growth, will remain that way. If you think your employees can’t grow as managers, then they won’t. Back in 2015–2016, I realized the importance of sharing my knowledge with partners and providing them with information about my skills and approaches. How did I do this? I started giving lectures for my employees twice a week. Every Sunday, I spent three hours preparing for these talks. My wife said I was crazy. At that time, we were already doing well financially, earning about 2–3 million rubles a month, but I wanted to make my employees more effective. I felt it was important, and I saw the results.

There are several factors which influence the development of entrepreneurial skills:

1. Environment. The environment is shaped solely by the leader. They create an atmosphere where individuals begin to independently enhance their skills.

2. Success. When a person achieves success, they tackle new challenges with even greater enthusiasm and responsibility. In our company, we have a rule: we assign more complex tasks to the most successful employees. If someone successfully completes a task three times, I promote them because I believe they can handle higher-level responsibilities. As a result, we have employees who rise from assistant positions to department heads within two years, increasing their income from 30,000 to 500,000 rubles.

3. Observational Learning. Employees tend to copy the behavior of their colleagues. Therefore, it’s crucial to quickly remove weak performers from the system and set a personal example to minimize the number of people contributing to a negative culture. If an employee sees that 80% of their coworkers are performing well while 20% are underperforming, they will strive to meet the standard. Conversely, if the situation is reversed, weakness becomes the norm, and high achievers may be viewed as outliers.

When I was building the system in our company, I paid attention to all these aspects. I would enter a department and immediately gauge its effectiveness. If low productivity dominated and newcomers accepted it as normal, I had to take appropriate action. In strong structures where departments were effective, I made no changes. I would say, “If everything is going well, we won’t interfere. Request resources or salary increases – I’m open to it. Just keep working.”

In areas where problems existed, I conducted an analysis and sometimes had to dismiss entire departments. This happened only twice in all my time because the system was fundamentally flawed. These departments lacked an entrepreneurial culture and were instead characterized by rigid hierarchies. The chief deputy would demand things like bringing him some water – this was unacceptable. Some may wonder why an entire department was let go. Of course, we analyze the effectiveness of each individual. But I was surprised to discover that in a system where even a part of the leadership is strong, weakness at the top cannot exist. By weakness, I mean a lack of effectiveness. Weakness in business can only thrive when there is weakness all around – that's a certainty. This principle holds true at the first two levels of management. If an employee is unhappy with something, they will always signal it. Even if they seem to agree, their dissatisfaction will become clear in some way. It’s more complicated when dealing with management across multiple levels, but each level has its own boundaries. Therefore, I believe that as long as there is at least one strong element in the system, it won’t collapse. However, this only works if the majority of the system is effective.

4. Productivity. The culture of productivity heavily relies on metrics. It’s important to remember a simple rule: people always perform what management expects from them. All systems strive for high labor productivity; all employees want to work better, faster, and more efficiently. But what often happens in practice? To achieve high productivity, it’s essential to create corresponding systems, launch business processes, and implement innovations.

Compare the number of employees and the production costs of Toyota cars with those of a brand in a developing country. You might be surprised: with comparable quality, the difference can be two to three times greater. Toyota assembles its Corolla for $10,000, while in a developing country, a similar car might cost $20,000 to $25,000 to assemble, or they may not even be able to assemble it at all. Why is that? The key to Toyota's success lies in the desire of each employee to be a hero within their system. Each worker has the power to stop production and suggest innovations. Even those who do not recognize the strength of an individual acknowledge the power of the system and come to understand the significance of each employee for the company. Some might say, "If Toyota uses an automated assembly line, where is the human element?" But there is indeed a human designer behind it all – someone whose goal is to work without relying on people, who has the authority, passion, and influence over others. It’s hard to imagine how Toyota employees reacted when a machine replaced their supervisor. The management had the authority, and the process for dismissing employees was clearly organized.

In companies where the development of each individual is prioritized over building a system, everything tends to boil down to productivity. There is no limit to perfection.

To illustrate this point, let me share an example. In our mortgage department, we had a procedure that was both simple and complex at the same time. We became one of the largest mortgage brokers in the world by volume of loans issued. Everything was automated and integrated with banks. We invested heavily in advertising, marketing, employee training, and recruitment. Each mortgage broker was an excellent salesperson with a deep understanding of the market. We trained all the realtors and created a robust system.

As a result, the system we built in the mortgage department accounted for 1.6% of our revenue. I asked the head of this department, "Can you make it cheaper?" He replied, "I can." I then asked, "Are you willing to reduce costs from 1.6% to 0.9%?" He said, "I'm willing." I offered him a bonus of 800,000 rubles if he achieved this goal. The department head agreed and began working differently. Previously, he focused on increasing quantitative metrics; now he had to lower costs. Competing on cost is always more challenging. Anyone can do something without considering the budget, but achieving specific results within a set budget requires true professionalism. Therefore, when assigning tasks to employees, I always take their productivity and efficiency into account.

So, what happened next? The department head actively began automating processes, eliminating redundant functions, distributing tasks among departments, and using chatbots for customer communication. He also proposed training realtors in new working methods. Six months later, costs for this department were reduced from 1.6% to 0.9%. We awarded the department head an 800,000-ruble bonus, and over the next five years, the company saved about 80 million rubles by streamlining this process.

When you set the right priorities and recognize the collective competencies of your team, empowering people and defining their areas of influence, they begin to work in your company as if it were their own business. Real transformations happen when individuals know they are trusted. The results of their work speak for themselves. An entrepreneur's motivation isn't always tied to money; people value the sense of responsibility and the belief that they can impact outcomes. And, of course, the need for recognition remains important!

If I had simply given the head of the mortgage department money without expressing my trust in him and emphasizing the significance of his task, would that have worked? Probably not. It's the combination of many factors that matters. I believe that there are opposing forces at play that need to be sensed and harnessed. When you feel them, you can adjust your approach like a sail.

With a well-structured system, it's possible to create multiple points of entrepreneurship, even while leaving part of the process bureaucratic. This is enough to instill an entrepreneurial spirit within the overall culture and help the company achieve its desired goals.