Experiencing a momentum of team growth is an exhilarating phase for leadership. Soaring demand for company staff equates to addition of team members and naturally, increasing revenue. Apart from apparent business growth, a flourishing team is a testimony of integrity of unparalleled leadership. However, this also betokens a new level of challenges and responsibilities. While you are molding a name for yourself, you also have to singlehandedly manage your once upon a small team that grew into a legion of misfits.
Employees are widely recognized as the functional vessels of a business. When a small team grows into a bustling team, it can be difficult to keep everyone on the right track. For instance, if a team has successfully routined a certain working rhythm, a new addition onboard denotes adjustment to both parties. Moreover, productivity and collaboration habits might be at stake if impacted negatively by the changing dynamics. But of course, this isn’t always the case.
Company leaders are hard on pursuit towards seeking sound strategies to solidify budding teams. Document standard policies had grown ineffective. Verbal motivations are wearisome and too default. Smart leaders have to come up with innovative management strategies that resonate well with the team. Simply put, they need an action plan that would pursue success in the future.
While some may think that team growth as growing pains, it is important to note that progress is unlikely without change. To dwindle down the anxiety of accommodating new people, here are practical tips to help you carry out a functional, balanced, and efficient growing team.
Streamline Company Culture
This isn’t about the standard onboarding discussion with new employees that iterates business culture and vision like a monologue class. Yes, you can’t spew empty words over and over again. Also, you can’t simply hand over a company handbook and expect new team members to absorb everything that is inscribed.
Showcasing corporate culture should not be about defining definitions. This unique and positive company attribution, termed culture, must move and motivate people. When onboarding team members, invest in creative resources to ensure company culture is well understood. The key is to identify core aspects of the current culture and to know how you can integrate the new addition. One of the strongest strategies is to clearly discuss real-life examples of workarounds in the operation. In doing so, be sure to leave no room for questions. Vague explanations can lead to misunderstanding. Ultimately, make sure to be consistent in checking out with them to solidify the feeling of commitment. The goal here is to sync them efficiently into your string; to fuel their sense of ownership — and that is the keystone to a growing team.
Recognize and Reward Success
It is easy for most companies to reward success. It is a default regulation principled by many leaders — gift certificates and the like. However, many of them fall short in recognizing team members in a personal warm fashion. This is a critical aspect often overlooked for the wrong reasons.
Success recognition is normally easier with a smaller pack of members. For an expanding team, this can be really challenging. However, this shouldn’t hinder you from doing so. Recognizing team members, despite the growing number, should never be a problem for flexible leaders.
A recognition-rich environment promotes an inspiring and motivated team circle. It doesn’t have to be always monetary, a simple shout-out or a congratulatory email can be life changing!
Furthermore, an objective rewarding system is crucial in applauding team members who do great work. Also, if the team is performing well collectively, take an extra nudge in celebrating it to make everyone feel they contributed to the success.
Establish Processes and Turnaround Efficiently
Working closely with every team member is often impossible as the growth continues. Consequently, it is vital to have an established walkthrough of the processes to alleviate you from future complications. A well-documented workflows help new hires identify trip details of organization flow that would serve as a corporate road map. This is, most importantly practical, especially to those who share the same task deliverables.
In a personal case, having a document of procedures reduces the friction of workload. For instance for an outstanding task: keeping a record of the task goals, methodology, and desired results can amplify success for future projects and boost productivity for new people onboard.
In hindsight, securing organized structures and documented flow would be easier for your new team members to follow suit — and to flawlessly sync on your team’s work demeanor.
Final Thoughts
A healthy and thriving company is comprised of growing teams. And you have all the reasons to be happy as it signifies prosperity as it should be. Naturally, you will encounter roadblocks along the way that would challenge management and leadership. Acing a growing pain isn’t always easy and you have to grow mindfully to ensure upward trajectory as you maneuver the team.