Matteo Cervelli’s “People Gardening” concept is about fostering autonomy through creating fertile business environments that are driven by purpose. During this episode, he explains the importance of focusing on company culture, why the best advice he has ever been given is to “be the dumbest in the room,” and the benefits of focusing on incremental improvements.
About Matteo Cervelli:
Matteo Cervelli is the third generation CEO in Urania Group, a $60M B2B manufacturer of components for the modular construction industry. He initially avoided entering his family’s business because of how it limited the time his family spent together. However, after graduating as an industrial engineer, he changed his mind. He is passionate about helping his teammates become the best versions of themselves.
How fostering autonomy can help your business?
Fostering autonomy within your business can provide numerous benefits and positively improve its overall success.
Employees become more engaged in their work and take ownership of their tasks when they are given a sense of autonomy. This deeper involvement leads to improved job satisfaction and motivation.
In addition, autonomy fosters creativity and innovation by allowing employees to experiment with new ideas and solutions. Employees also gain decision-making abilities and become more accountable for their activities when they are given decision-making authority. This autonomy allows faster and more flexible decision-making, allowing the company to respond quickly to developments and capitalize on opportunities.
Furthermore, cultivating autonomy helps to improve employee retention and attract top talent since people value the trust and flexibility that is granted to them. It fosters personal and professional development, enhances team dynamics, and allows leaders to focus on strategic projects.
Overall, supporting autonomy can improve decision-making skills, agility, and employee retention while increasing employee engagement, creativity, and innovation. It produces a healthy company culture and work environment in which employees thrive, which in turn enhances your business’s profitability.
Episode highlights:
- Invest time in developing a company culture that allows people to become the best versions of themselves. This will greatly enhance the efficiency and productivity of your business. (11:52)
- As your company grows, there is huge value in being able to create a resonant system in order to enhance cohesion, reduce friction, and achieve success. (23:11)
- “Be the dumbest in the room.” Always be open to listening to and learning from other people. Your network will be one of the most powerful tools on your entrepreneurial journey. (26:55)
- Don’t try and solve all the problems in the world; there are too many, and you’ll end up not achieving anything substantial. Instead, focus on doing small experiments and trying to improve by 1% every day. (28:13)
- Autonomy enables productivity and scalability. As a leader, it is your job to foster autonomy so that your employees are able to operate at their best, and subsequently help your business operate most effectively. (36:54)
Matteo’s best advice for entrepreneurs:
“Test your ideas faster with small experiments.” (29:38) Don’t try to solve all the world’s problems at once. Choose wisely where you focus your efforts and don’t be afraid of iterating.
