In 2024 Jen Fisher of Harvard Business Review authored an article on how a “growth-at-all-costs” mindset can stall one’s company.
According to the author, while factors such as operating systems, financial health, and processes are all important in determining growth, studies show that of all the resources a company has, “human capital is the most important”.
While Fisher made headlines at the time, the importance of human capital hasn’t become a widespread trend with other companies.
However, in recent years the soaring cost of training new team members has made things even tougher, placing a highlight on another founder who has taken a similar approach that puts his team front and center.
Although some degree of staff turnover is unavoidable, team members leaving can have a serious impact on company continuity if left unchecked. In fact, the average cost associated with a new employee, taking into account both the recruiting and hiring process, is almost $19,000 USD. Further, the economic contraction worldwide from last year has put a similar kind of pressure on industries. As organizations and corporations tighten their belts to balance profit-loss margins, this has an inevitable trickle-down effect.
Here, Mike Hoey, founder and CEO of Source Meridian, understands that putting his people first and investing in the team is a lifeline for the business and its employees.
A team-first focus on training and development
Although the economic stressors of the past few years seem to be easing in 2024, business leaders still need to manage operations closely for continued growth.
For Hoey, productivity is never an accident. It is always the result of a commitment to excellence, intelligent planning, and focused effort, in particular when it comes to his team.
At Source Meridian, first founded in 2010, this took the form of a number of initiatives.
One standout example is the company’s Digest Sessions, which are monthly training initiatives held by the organization.
The initiative is one of the company’s top priorities at Source Meridian, which has now become one of the largest employers in the city of Medellin.
During the Digest Sessions, multimodal projects are discussed for professionals throughout the company. The sessions focus on topics including architectures such as backend, frontend, data, and others.
The open, 1-hour sessions are in particular helpful for team members because they foster a culture of knowledge sharing amongst the entire company, giving visibility to individuals and creating a sense of community.
As Gabriel Cepeda explained, “The goal of the Digest Sessions is to select specific technologies and tools to train and strengthen knowledge for the teams that need them. In other words, the program is designed to equip employees with the skills and knowledge they need to excel in their roles and contribute to the success of the company.”
The training also includes practical exercises and demonstrations led by Source Meridian’s engineers, to ensure team visibility and to allow colleagues to see one another as references. This approach enables leaders to enhance their knowledge while preparing materials and improve their soft skills in presentation, public speaking, and scenario management.
At the same time, the company looks to standardize the level of knowledge within the company to balance and improve the flexibility for roles.
Creating the optimal work environments
Mike Hoey and the Source Meridian team have also taken the initiative even further, prioritizing mentorship across the company.
Daniela Gutierrez of Source Meridian said in an earlier interview, “Once you start in your career, if you have the opportunity to take on a Mentor, take advantage of it. Without a doubt, this is one of the things that has helped me the most in my professional career because I have been able to count on an excellent Mentor like Mike Hoey. Once you know the medium and have people to guide you, you can also contribute to the industry by being a mentor for someone else.”
“Take advantage of opportunities even if you don’t feel ready because chances are that you are. It is important to always challenge ourselves, and many times impostor syndrome can make us reject opportunities that could have a high impact on our career,” Gutierrez concluded.
Said Mike Hoey in an earlier interview, “A tenet at Source Meridian is our Cares initiative, a commitment to enterprises caring more about their teams and greater communities. We’re proud to be one of the larger international employers in Medellín, Colombia, and will continue to invest in our team and community.”
Mike Hoey’s deep roots in the tech scene
Under Hoey’s leadership including people-first initiatives, Source Meridian was recognized as the top Latin American startup by StartUpCity in 2020, and, according to its founder, is being trusted by a growing list of customers and partners.
He got his start working for Accenture in their pharmaceutical practice in the 90s and later went to work as chief technology officer for a submission publishing startup called ESPS, which had a successful exit through an IPO after several years.
In addition, he works as the Chief Technology Officer of PurpleLab, a healthtech company with a mission to make healthcare speak a single unified language to drive better outcomes. HealthNexus™, its no-code healthcare analytics platform, empowers life sciences, payers, providers and stakeholders with real-world evidence to solve challenges faster and more cost effectively.
Mike is also a Mentor at Techstars, USC’s technology incubator and other startup accelerators across the globe.
Featured photo of the Source Meridian team
This article includes a client of an Espacio portfolio company
