CEO’s needs the ability to learn from previous experiences and improve their processes from the lessons learned. Constant and continual improvement is key to effective growth. They also need the ability to build relationships with clients and their teams in order to be successful. That creates loyalty and builds reputation of an organization. It’s important for a CEO to be confident. They should be the biggest cheer leader which sets the tone for the company. And understanding is a key attribute. Your employees are people with lives outside the workplace. They need a healthy life balance and giving them the trust and freedom to effectively deal with any family situations that come up is vital.
Walter Perdigao is a Co-founder and Vice President of Services at CrossConcept. CrossConcept’s team of Delivery Managers and Technical Consultants oversee the implementation and support of Continuum using best practice processes and recommendations derived from decades of experience. The team has been successfully rolling out PSA and PPM solutions clients of all sizes from a wide range of market segments. Walter is a main contributor to driving the functionality of the product taking recommendations from existing customers as a key driver.
Decades of Experience
CrossConcept started as a service company first implementing and supporting enterprise PSA and PPM solutions into the SMB market as well as providing consulting on best practice approaches on the effective use of these solutions to efficiently run an organization and get the best return on investment. CrossConcept did that successfully for the first seven years of its existence. But the consistent feedback was that while the functionality of these enterprise solutions was needed, the systems were too expensive and generally overly complex for the SMB space. So the company decided two years ago to embark on designing and creating its own enterprise class SaaS PSA solution geared and priced for the SMB market.
CrossConcept used its decades of experience and feedback implementing these solutions focusing primarily on the root functionality that clients used as well as usability. It took feedback directly from its clients and still value their input to this day. Clients appreciate that the organization really listens to their needs and see delivering on their requirements as its top definition of success. While it has transitioned to be a software company – it will always see itself as a service company first that happens to implement its own world class PSA solution.
Empowering People
Walter Perdigao believes the measure of a managers success isn’t how many people they’ve managed but rather how many of their team go on to be managers themselves. Empowering people to grow to be autonomous and effective in their role is important. Walter doesn’t micro manage. He believes in the skills and talent of each of the company’s consultants. He strives to focus on the end deliverable and lets each team member use their unique approach and talent to arrive at the outcome. He believes in making one’s team successful and that team in turn makes the client and the company successful.
Playing win-win Game
An important lesson Walter has learned over his 26 year career is that success in business is a team sport of mutual respect. A service companies key job is to strive to make their customer successful. That starts with empowering your team which extends to delivering for the customer. It becomes a win for the client, a win for the team and a win for the company. And Walter has learned the key to success is to always strive to deliver more than expected.
Focus on the End Goal
As Walter mentioned previously, empowering your team to be self reliant and autonomous is a core belief. Whenever a deliverable is needed, Walter likes to focus on the end goal and give his initial thoughts but then opens it up to the team to give their equal input and leave it in their capable hands to execute. He trusts them enough to allow them to make mistakes and learn, grow and continually improve.
Fuelling the Growth
CrossConcept has successfully transitioned from a consulting company to a software company and now the focus is to continually build and improve the functionality of Continuum. It will continue to take the feedback from its diverse clientele and build on that functionality. A PPM version of the tool will be released shortly which will open the company to be able to work with clients primarily focused on internal projects. CrossConcept is also looking at a round of investment to help fuel its growth over the next 5 years.
Precious Advice from the Leader
Don’t let anyone define your potential. Only you know what you are capable of. Your only limit is the limit you self impose. Set your goals high and believe in yourself. That gives you the spice of life to wake up excited each morning. From the power of that belief you will be challenged along your journey. Expect that – it’s a needed step in the process of growth. Simply learn from those challenges and keep your eye on your goal and never lose faith in yourself or the process. Do that and you can achieve anything you set your mind on.