Don't be in Charge of a Flip-Flop Team! 7 Tips to Successfully Manage Your Growing Team

Is your team growing???

If yes, then that's good. It means your business is thriving.?

Is your team growing faster than expected? Is it growing at a pace that you’re not quite ready for??

Well, that can pose problems. With rapid growth, your team can implode, or collapse from under its own weight.?

THE CHALLENGES OF A FAST-GROWING TEAM?

Today’s biggest, most successful companies started from humble beginnings. What began with a tightly-knit core team with the same vision and drive ballooned to an army of employees. While a growing team is a sign of success, it also presents managerial and logistical challenges.?

The dream of every startup is to prosper and grow. But growth isn’t always easy. Naturally, a company’s human resources capacity has to keep up with increasing demands. Rapid success can overwhelm managers and teams. New hires who are taken onboard too quickly may not have enough time to adapt to internal processes. Ill-prepared teams lead to inefficient performance and unmet standards. Ironically, swift growth–if not handled properly–has the capacity to ruin newly thriving businesses.?

TIPS ON HANDLING A FAST-GROWING TEAM?

A manager’s role is to avoid the pitfalls and consequences of rapid team growth. Here are a few tips to efficiently manage and lead a fast-growing team:?

1. Start with the Hiring Process?

With thorough and comprehensive hiring procedures, problems are solved before they arise. Apart from talent and skillset, managers must consider a promising applicant’s compatibility to the company culture as a major criterion.??

The foundation of a robust organizational structure is a clear vision and purpose. When?a business grows rapidly, company culture can easily be diluted as new hires are taken on board. Diversion from a long-established mission and culture can bring enormous problems down the road.?

Always keep the company’s core values in mind throughout the hiring process. Convey the company’s purpose and principles to job applicants early on in order to make the best hiring decisions. New hires who are both skillful and totally committed to the culture will produce outstanding, high-performing teams.??

2. Adapt your Leadership Style?

Your management style must evolve alongside your team’s growth.?Teams can increase exponentially in a short period of time. A “team leader” may actually be leading multiple secondary leaders, who in turn lead teams of their own. Managers who have gotten used to small teams may find this situation uncomfortable, especially those who prefer to micromanage.??

Leaders shouldn’t confuse micromanagement with hands-on leadership. In a study by the?Journal of Experimental Psychology, it was found that workers perform less efficiently when they feel they’re being constantly watched.

The key to supervising expanded teams is to empower subordinate leaders by letting them take control of their respective tasks. Allow team members to make decisions without having to consult you or their direct supervisors. Any team, no matter how big, can function as a cohesive unit when each member is invested in the outcome.?

3. Install Clear Processes?

Management becomes increasingly difficult as your organization expands. Rapid team expansion breaks down weak processes and systems. When you have a large team, you won’t be able to work closely with every single member. Establishing well-defined processes and systems will keep everyone on the same page at all times. Think of it as a roadmap that everyone must follow so that every member reaches the destination without wandering off or getting lost. Setting up well-defined procedures and systems ensures repeatable team successes that lead to feasible scaling.?

4. Keep Communication Lines Open?

For large teams–or teams within teams–an open and streamlined channel of communication is crucial. It prevents conflicts, promotes team unity, and facilitates a sense of transparency. Conducting regular briefings can help you keep your members focused on their tasks and the team’s overall goals. Managers should encourage employees to voice their opinions or offer suggestions through consistently open channels of communication. New hires, in particular, need to feel that they’re part of the team and integral to its success.?

5. Use Technology to your Advantage?

In order to work, processes and systems should be enforced with appropriate, up-to-date tools. Project management and communication software should be continuously updated to accommodate a rapidly growing team. These tools will allow you to track and monitor workflows, productivity, and progress. They also allow you to easily identify obstructions and bottlenecks that impede production. With state-of-the-art software, project planning and delegation of tasks for extended teams becomes less complicated.?

6. Recognize and Reward Excellence?

It’s important for managers to praise employees for a job well done. Though it seems trivial, recognizing achievement has a significant effect on your team members’ confidence and self-worth. Likewise, rewarding highly efficient employees financially or through simple acts like a congratulatory email builds camaraderie. Recognition and reward motivate other team members to exert more effort, thereby creating a tradition of excellence. It can be more difficult for managers to recognize individual excellence within extended teams. It's a manager’s duty to exert more effort to readily identify individual accomplishments so that they can be acknowledged accordingly.?

7. Embrace Change and Promote Harmony Between Old and New Members?

A rapidly expanding team entails bringing new members on board to work with existing teams. This necessity shifts the dynamics of an entire team, which may cause reluctance among core members. Longstanding team members may see the addition of new hires as a threat to their group interaction and performance. While resistance to change is a natural human instinct, it can be quickly overcome with a progressive leadership mindset. Managers should initiate a culture that welcomes change and all the benefits that go with it. Introduce new hires to core members formally before they work on their first project. Explain what the new members can bring to the table and how it can enhance the team’s efficiency. Opposition to change is temporary, so step back and allow time for them to cohere as a single working unit.?

A fast-growing team makes management and leadership more complicated.??

But it doesn’t have to ...?

The TITAN GROWTH FORMULA Coaching Program extensively covers scaling and growth management, and how to efficiently oversee rapid team expansion. Whether you lead a team of 3 or 300, the framework will equip you with the necessary tools to lead your team to success.??

The program prepares your business for abrupt team growth so it doesn’t overwhelm your resources or disrupt your work-life balance. Your agency’s existing processes and systems will be assessed for team growth sustainability. As well, management will be trained on how to evolve alongside a fast-growing team.

c:BK