Almost every small business or startup reaches a point where growth requires scalability. But scaling a business comes with its challenges—all those processes fine-tuned for a team of five start showing cracks when the team grows to 100 people.
A company growing too fast can lose sight of what mattered to them in the beginning. Growing pains are common in any business, but they are easy to manage if tackled early on. If you build a strong foundation, your employee engagement, productivity, and success will remain intact. Here’s what you should expect as your business scales, and how you can preemptively solve common growing pains.
The smaller your business is, the easier it is to run on a flat hierarchy. Having a formalized hierarchy helps organize your business when it grows. A small business may give employees autonomy to make their own decisions for the company, but as you scale, what happens when 1,000 employees start making independent decisions? And what do you do when those 1,000 employees all come to you with questions or requests?
The fix:
Sure, you have a hierarchy in place, but does everyone understand it? By not firming up your company structure, you’re opening pathways for misunderstandings in your company. Every team member must have a clear understanding
of the reporting structure, their role, and their expectations. When everybody knows what they must do and who to talk to, processes are smoother and employees feel less overwhelmed.
The fix:
As your management team grows, you won’t be able to oversee all the work or manage every employee. Plus, having more managers on staff increases the risk of misaligned management (and micromanaging). Not every manager works the same way and when management styles clash, business suffers. While it’s important to allow everyone to have their own management style, you want to make sure these styles fit together—and don’t contradict each other.
The fix:
We get it: change is hard. Employees who have been with you since day one can feel uprooted when their regular day-to-day gets disrupted as the business scales. If you don’t approach change the right way, you could see high turnover from your most loyal team members.
The fix:
When other people onboard your new employees, it’s important to standardize their experience. While management styles differ, each new team member should experience the same introduction to the company—and stay aligned on mission and expectations as they grow. If your employees don’t know your company values, they don’t understand the work they’re doing… and can completely change your business’ trajectory.
The fix:
It’s not just a buzzword—company culture is a critical consideration for 46% of job seekers, per a Jobvite survey. Your small team may feel like a family, but it’s hard to manage that as more employees join that family. It’s crucial to build a company culture where everyone feels welcome, included, and heard. If you aren’t actively building that culture, you’re passively damaging it.
The fix:
It’s easy to get caught up in your business’ growth as you manage bigger projects and more responsibilities. But it's important to recognize that your employees are what make it all possible. Your people should be as much of a priority for you as the work they do day in and day out. Managing these growing pains will let your company succeed… and your employees too.