Any business that is looking to grow is going to be undergoing some changes. Those changes can be demanding enough as a manager or employer overseeing it all. One of the most tenuous parts of scaling a team is the team itself. You have to make sure they can make it through the change and come out stronger on the other end.
Stay true to culture
You will likely be bringing in new people to fit new roles that the business will need in its growth. Bringing in one person alone and change the balance of a workplace, never mind multiple ones. To make sure that your workplace doesn’t change into a place that neither you nor existing employees are happy with, you need to nail down the company culture. The traits that work best, the environment that promotes those traits, you need them to be a part of your plans and your job descriptions just as much as the tasks that come with the role.
Get your HR up to snuff
Bringing in more people means you’re going to have a lot more work for your HR department. Interim HR services might help lighten the load somewhat. You don’t want to expand the team permanently if it works well in the average day-to-day. But a business that’s scaling is not experiencing its average day-to-day. The workload of dealing with new structures and new clients can be too much for the existing team.
Keep everyone up to speed
A changing business might be scary enough for employers, but what about employees? Their work environment is changing and they may be looking at changes in their position, too. Training and further investment in existing employees won’t just help them keep up to speed with new methods and responsibilities. It assures existing team members that despite the fact the business is changing, they still have a place in it.
Finding and managing managers
You want people with leadership skills to take care of the smaller teams since you won’t be able to handle everything yourself. Instead of looking for them outside the workplace, look on the inside. Find your lieutenants and benefit from plenty of experience on the front line to serve as a link between you and your teams. There are even testing methods like the enneagram test that can help you find those people in your team best suited to positions of leadership. Promoting internally shows veteran employees and newcomers alike that sticking with the business is worth it.
Be afraid of bloat
You’re most likely going to be welcoming new team members, but you should carefully consider how many new members you bring in and where you bring them in. Structuring a small number of smaller teams works a lot better than letting teams bloat too much and dealing with too many managers. For one, employ too many people to one team and that team gets stuck spending too much time on organizing itself as opposed to getting work done. From an interpersonal standpoint, the more personalities you add to the mix, the less likely it is they’ll all work together without a hitch.
Ignoring your team during your scaling efforts can lead to disaster. Morale can be all over the place, HR can fall by the wayside, and you can end up with a huge, overly-bureaucratic mess. Your people are the support of the whole structure, so keep them strong with the tips above.
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