Your company grew 30% so far this year. Yahoo! Guess what? This may cause role changes for you. Are you good with that?
Growth especially fast growth is hard to manage. Systems need to evolve, people need to step up. More training and coaching may be required. Sometimes, you need to hire new people who have experienced this before as consultants and at various levels of your organization.
Recently, I’ve seen new Vice Presidents and/or new C level executives slotted in above the existing team with really great results. If this is potentially in your future, I would not take that as a sign that your people will leave, or if you are a C level executive, that you should leave. In fact, I’ve seen Directors be really excited to get a new boss who has done this before. They hope they will learn what they need to move up into that role in the next couple of years. They WANT this to succeed.
It worked because there was honest communication and trust between the team members and the executive leadership.
If you are the Chief Executive and you are the one who needs to grow (beyond joining Vistage if you have not done THAT already), I recommend 2 things: creating the organization chart for 3 years from now and forming an advisory board.
The future organization chart: What are the roles you will need filled to get to your 3 year plan? Don’t base this on who you have now. Just lay out the roles. If some of your people don’t fit those roles, you can figure that out. Just don’t let it hold you back. And share it with your team.
Advisory Board: Get 3-5 people who have gone where you want to go or who have particular advanced skill sets you will need and get regular input. No, they don’t do this for free, but you get what you pay for, right?
The one thing you cannot do is believe that you won’t need to change. Get ahead of this growth so you can enjoy the ride.
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