How to Frequently Adapt Your Teams to Your Growing Business

Problem

"When things are going well for your company, the growth is going to demand a combination of fast hiring and rapid changes to projects. Working with 100 people or more is vastly different from working with 15 people, and you will need to assess and modify your approaches frequently in order to grow with the company. Unfortunately, it is human nature to resist change. As managers, you need to find ways to help teams embrace these frequent changes during times of growth."

Actions taken

1. "First, it is necessary to describe the problem you are trying to solve to all people involved. Frame this in terms of what is best for the company; and try to get everyone on the same page."
2. "Second, ask for volunteers to test out the proposed changes. Lay out the specific skills you are looking for on the test team; and allow people to decide for themselves if they want to give the 'new way' a try. This is much more effective than simply assigning people to a task, because it ensures you will have a team with a positive outlook and an openness to change. After the trial period is over, you can bring the test team together to find out what worked and what didn't. Ask them what they think about bringing it to the rest of the teams."
3. "Now, if the trial goes well, your volunteers will become the best ambassadors for the changes being made. It is much more powerful to hear from your peers that things indeed did work well or better than it is to hear from the higher-ups that they should work well or better. Of course, if things don't go well, you learn from that as well and move on to a new approach. The key here is to increase engagement by recruiting a test team of optimistic people who are trusted by their peers."

Lessons learned

"By recognizing the importance of making employees a part of the decision-making process, we gained their trust and willingness to try something new. Collecting volunteers for a test-team is crucial because changes work best when the people implementing them embrace the greater purpose. Furthermore, replacing the top-down approach of assigning people to a new system, and letting employees hear from their peers why a change is for the best, is extremely powerful."