No bigger than a soccer team
It is genuinely important to me that the people who work at Artidor enjoy working here.I want them to look forward to doing their job. I want them to feel at home. Of course, we make some great products, but that alone is not enough to energize a person. This is one of the reasons why we don’t want to have too many people on our team. A team the size of a soccer squad is sufficient, as it allows for genuine collaboration. You get to eat together, and foster mutual understanding. Members of a relatively small team know more about each other than people working on a large team. I think that’s important. It makes cooperation more pleasant. I’m guessing this is in complete contradiction to the recent trend of upscaling, but that was a conscious decision on my part.
I do think that entrepreneurs who have a very small team pose a bit of a risk to their company. For instance: what happens if you are sick? In such cases, you’ll need a certain division of tasks and a somewhat sizable team. Once you grow larger, you may need an additional layer of managers, and I’m choosing not to go for that. The way things are, everyone feels partially responsible and things are going well. We feel like we are on top of everything.
Recommended by LinkedIn
Perfectionist
When it comes to selling and delivering products, it’s important that processes and communications are properly organized internally. I’m a bit of a perfectionist myself, which may actually be an understatement, and I like to put a lot of thought into things. The people around me are pretty similar, actually. We don’t go for, “That will do, probably.” We aim to go for “Things have to be exactly right.” In that regard, we demand a lot of ourselves, but at the same time, it energizes us. We accomplish great things with our relatively small team. This has not gone unnoticed by our clients. It means that I can focus on the entrepreneurial side of things and on the technical aspects. A perfect mix that facilitates my own enjoyment of work as well!
Chief Operations Officer bij IBIS Power
1yThe dream you have Mark is how I certainly know you. I admire you for that. I am convinced that you make sure that your dream will come true and I wish you enjoyment and success in achieving that.