People Management in a Fast-Growing Organization
Stellar growth may be a “high-class problem.” But it’s a problem nonetheless.
At a certain point, some of the biggest challenges come from the scaling of your organization to match growth.
(1) Hiring the right people and (2) delegating responsibility once you find them are two big ones.
Once you cross around 20 employees, founders and C-level execs simply can’t keep tabs on all the personalities involved.
And trust me when I say that this matters.
People are much less rational and much more emotional than we give them credit for.
People have natural instincts toward things like territoriality and self-consciousness. Being super mindful of this is a cheat code to getting the most out of your team.
(1) Hiring is the easy part.
Early on at Hexclad, the only real challenge in hiring was finding the time to recruit. We were so busy that we simply couldn’t focus on hiring.
It was an unvirtuous circle.
When we finally made the time for recruiting — and as our business’ reputation grew — hiring became very easy.
(2) Managing, on the other hand, is never easy.
At scale, it can be very time-consuming.
Acknowledge this and allocate the time to keep your team on the right course.
While it may sound cliché, leading by example is cheat code number two. The best managers are those who have previously done the work themselves.
When I say do the work yourself, I mean …
Do the dirty work.
As a first-year lawyer at Skadden in 1997, they basically paid me to make copies, send faxes, and write cover memos.
After a few months of doing that well, I started getting real lawyer work and got paralegals to help with the busy work.
Some other young associates did the crap work for way longer.
It was a running joke with my associate class that I had an army of people doing my work for me.
In reality, the joke was on them.
I worked directly for senior partners, ran M&A deals on my own, and managed lots of people.
I see so many senior leaders deep in the weeds with the tactical aspects of their business.
It’s important to have the ability to dive into the details.
It’s equally important to allow your team to make decisions.
Work hard to strike the balance, and your business will benefit greatly.