In many SMEs there is a scene that is repeated too frequently: when the disorder begins to take its toll, the decision is made to incorporate a professional.
Someone who comes to put order, to bring structure, to professionalize what until now was handled with intuition.
It can be an accountant with a management approach, a process engineer, a Bachelor of Administration, someone of human resources or an external consultant.
And the expectation is clear – which comes, understand the panorama … and “solve everything.”
The silent resistance
But a week is enough for the initial enthusiasm to crash against a wall. That professional who arrived with ideas, tools and experience is ranged with a resistance that did not appear in the contract: “That is not going to work”, “we always did so”, “we have no budget for that”, “do it, but do not bother much”, “you come to implement, not to comment.” And then the paradox is revealed: we hire a professional, but we do not give him space to professionalize. We expected results, but we denied the land so that any real transformation occurs.
We want magic, but without changing anything. We want it to come to order, but we have no clear processes. Bring tools, but we are not willing to release ours. Let us take us work from above, but without making decisions. Let us read our minds. The result is predictable: frustration on both sides. The professional, who came to contribute, feels limited. The owner or owner, who expected miracles, is disappointed. And the SME remains the same … only now there is someone else at the table, caught in the same inertia.
Incorporating talent is not enough
Where is the error? In believing that incorporating a professional is the same as incorporating a solution. When in reality, what is added is an opportunity. But that opportunity is not activated alone: it needs an environment that supports it. And many times, that environment must be built before that person arrives.
Organizational design: the basis that is not seen
Professionalizing is not improvising. That is where the value of a real organizational design comes into play, designed to climb and not just to turn off fires. Sometimes that professional comes first as an external consultant: observes, analyzes, proposes, tests the system. And if there is openness, that link can evolve towards something more structural: a role within the team, with clear responsibilities, concrete tools and authority to act. But it is not always so easy.
SMEs face three great challenges. The first is attract: A professional does not fall in love with the salary. Find a place where I can learn, contribute and grow, and that is perceived from the first interview. The second is pay: You cannot always compete with the salaries of large companies, but something equal or more valuable can be offered – Flexibility, purpose, closeness with decision making. Many times, that weighs more than a package full of artificial benefits. And the third, perhaps the most complex, is retain: If you hire it but do not listen to it, if you carry it of operation without allowing you to touch the strategic, if you make it feel an external one even if it appears on the payroll … it will go. Even if the salary is fine.
The transformation begins inside
The key? Change the chip. It is not the professional who has to “adapt to SME” as if it were another machine. It is the SME that has to take a step towards its own professionalization and build an environment that receives it: with processes, clear roles and a culture oriented to improvement. And if you don’t know where to start, add someone to help you think that design. You don’t have to do it alone or alone.
Because if not, the usual happens: you hire talent … but do not let it use. And then frustration returns, wear, and that invisible poster that nobody hangs but everyone feels: “nothing comes to change.” But if you got here, you probably don’t want it to be so. Because you know your company can more. And that too … is professionalizing.
Paula ChmielnickiIndustrial Engineer and Consultant Specialized in the professionalization of SMEs.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/pchconsulta/?originalsubdomain=ar
https://www.linkedin.com/company/pch-consultora/
By CEDOC
