Ильдар Хусаинов – The power of freedom (страница 17)

Diving under the surface, we discovered that our friend was tangled in ropes beneath the slide. We tried to free him, but in our panic, we only made things worse. The situation was incredibly tense; we could see he was struggling. Fortunately, we managed to pull ourselves together and get him out. This incident reinforced my belief that I couldn't work in environments with such high risks. Even though everything ended well that day, I understand that I am an entrepreneur and nothing more.

From my experience, about 30% of employees quickly adapt to changes and start to actively engage. This is typical in any system. Around 20% tend to leave almost immediately after introducing changes to the motivation system because they seek stability rather than value, and it can be really hard to predict people's preferences in advance. Another 30–50% of employees are worth fighting for. It all depends on how convincing you are selling the idea, how strong your influence within the company is, and how well you build the motivation system.

When we transition to a new system, we always calculate motivation using two models and pay out the larger of the two amounts. That's our rule.

The main problem preventing many company leaders from developing an entrepreneurial culture is their inability to effectively balance three key elements:

1. Responsibility: In many companies, responsibility is concentrated at the top of the hierarchical ladder. You can compare responsibility with a marble slab – rigid, heavy, and sometimes even unmanageable. Leaders often struggle to share responsibility because they believe that subordinates are incapable of taking it on, but that's not the case. From my experience, I can say that every time I delegated responsibility, it was embraced. Imagine that! The highest level of management skill is when your employees start taking on responsibility and showing initiative by asking for resources or suggesting improvements. It’s crucial to delegate responsibility wisely – to sell the idea to the specialist of why it’s necessary for them. This is beneficial for everyone: for the leader, as it frees up resources to tackle new tasks, and for employees, as they can only grow and develop in such an environment.

I often ask during audits: “How often and to what extent do employees ask you for resources?” The most common answer I hear is, “No one asks me for resources.” You might think this is impossible, but it really happens. People often say that everything in their company is clear, well-planned, and distributed, and that everyone understands what resources are available.

For me, the best response to this question is: “Resources are requested frequently and regularly, and we constantly debate who gets what.” In a well-formed entrepreneurial culture, there will always be competition for resources. This is a sign of a healthy system.

Don’t trust systems if there’s no competition for resources within it – it indicates that processes are poorly structured. There are definitely systems that can develop only in the absence of competition, but in most cases, the struggle for resources is essential for efficiency.

No competition means no struggle for resources. No struggle for resources means no effective use of them. And without efficient resource utilization, there’s no business development. Long-term growth is impossible without an effective system.

2. Income and Power: The next aspect is delegating income and power along with responsibility. It’s like precious gems that many leaders prefer to keep to themselves. But true entrepreneurship begins when leaders are ready not only to assign duties to subordinates but also to share the fruits of labor and decision-making authority with them. This helps to form a strong team where everyone feels involved in the common cause.

3. Delegation of Authority: Delegation is the essence of management science. It’s often done poorly, but when done well, the results can be astonishing. In an entrepreneurial culture, delegation allows an ordinary employee to become an entrepreneur.

Moreover, delegation is a reflection of a leader's inner world. I believe in the theory of symmetry: business is a reflection of your "self." The ability to delegate indicates trust in people and a lack of fear, which signifies inner freedom. If a leader does not delegate authority and believes they can do everything better than others, it means they are not free on an energetic level.

If these three components are distributed correctly, the system becomes more stable because its "weight" is evenly balanced. In this case, the employees become the foundation of the system, which makes them less dependent on the leader. This effect can be compared to the lift generated by an airplane wing. An entrepreneurial culture creates the lift necessary for the company's development. It is essential for leaders to recognize and embrace this concept if they want their business to reach new heights.

I strongly believe that a good leader easily shares responsibility, income, and authority with their employees. This is how they redistribute energy. Let’s see it as a celestial body: if a planet were to retain all its energy without radiating heat into space, it would overheat and eventually explode (as we know from the Big Bang theory). Similarly, a leader in a company must not only contain the system's energy but also actively share it, just like the Sun. The Sun continuously emits vast amounts of heat and energy, sustaining life and fostering growth and development. Likewise, a leader should generate energy to support and develop the company while distributing available resources. This approach prevents "overheating" in the organization, which could lead to its "death" due to an excess of unallocated energy.

When reflecting on entrepreneurship, every leader should ask themselves: where is the line between delegating and retaining power? The answer is simple: face the truth. Who is the source of power in the company – the entrepreneur or their employees? What answer can you give to this question right now? If you say it’s the employees, you’re on the right track. You are creating something great and sustainable. But if you feel like you’re carrying everything on your shoulders, you might quickly become exhausted and burned out.

Entrepreneurial culture is based on unleashing the potential of each team member and transitioning from a hierarchical structure to a network of responsible and proactive individuals. In this context, not only financial incentives matter but also the opportunity for each employee to express themselves, make changes in management practices, and even assign specific tasks to colleagues during a project based on their own vision and competencies.

Entrepreneurship is not just a business model; it’s a mindset rooted in individualism and each person's responsibility for the collective outcome. It’s the energy that transforms tasks and projects into final results, making every employee a co-author of shared success. For this reason, entrepreneurial culture can and should be the foundation of modern business, where every team member feels valued and connected to a common purpose.

I didn’t come to this understanding right away. Now, I write about it in my book being confident, due to my experiences, even though many of the results I achieved didn’t come easily. The 2008 crisis forced me to rethink my views on management and radically change my approach. I realized that I was facing inevitable transformations, both as a person and as a businessman. The situation was critical: I sold everything I could, lived in a rented apartment, and had no money to pay my employees. I gathered my team for an honest conversation, explained the situation, and shared my concerns – I laid everything out as it was. I told them that we needed to cut salaries by 20%, but I promised that with increased efficiency, everyone could earn 40% more in the future. All the employees accepted the conditions and stayed in the company because they understood that we had common goals and that together we could achieve more.

When managing processes, it’s crucial to recognize what underlies people’s actions. People always act based on their personal interests, and trying to change that is pointless. Instead of relying on collective intelligence, it’s better to implement a motivation system that addresses individual employee needs, including those related to recognition and self-expression, which are part of Maslow's hierarchy of needs.

Maslow's hierarchy of needs

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maslow's_hierarchy_of_needs

Management systems that understand and apply the principles of this approach tend to achieve great success.

I always emphasize that selfishness and self-centeredness are powerful driving forces. By understanding individual motivations, we can build large and successful systems tailored to the interests of each person. This understanding helps businesses choose the right customer service principles and marketing strategies.