More people, more output! Or... isn't it?

Organic growth causes output pressure, stress and stagnant results. Structure needed for effective information and team cohesion.

You keep growing, you're making a profit and the product-market fit has been found. After a lot of years of banging and sometimes biting the dust, you are now at rest... At least, that's what you thought! But somehow it squeaks and creaks. You feel it chafing and friction develops between teams and employees who previously got along well. As time goes on, you also see output going backwards.... What's going on here?

Whereas before it was organic and people could find each other automatically, as you grow it becomes more difficult to keep sharing the same information with each other. Therefore, it is important to structure this, without creating a rigid system. The important thing is that information flows through the right processes, which is supported by the structure of your organization.

What are the signs that you need to start thinking about how work is organized in your organization?
‍

Pressure on output causes stress

You hear from teams that the workload is very high and your employees are experiencing (a lot of) stress, but you can't put your finger on why.
Results get stuck: you see teams working hard but output is not growing as fast as you predicted.

Organisational structure

As a founder, you still work too much in the organization instead of on the organization. You also notice that if you let go and outsource work, people do not deliver the output you expect. This reinforces the tendency to intervene and thus draw work back to you.

You see people working hard but on the wrong things. You regularly ask yourself, "How come someone figured out that THIS is a good idea?"

‍

Role Clarity and output

It is often unclear who is accountable and sometimes even who is responsible for some elements. As long as everything goes well and there are no complaints, you often don't notice this. Until things go wrong and output is lacking, then you see everyone pointing at each other. This creates friction and tension between teams and individuals.
Work is sometimes inefficient and you see many people meeting frequently. Some problems or issues also keep ping-ponging back and forth between teams. As a result, issues are not resolved concretely.

‍

Our 3 takeaways that lead to more output

Communicate, communicate, communicate etc.

Remember that people do everything with the best of intentions. Somewhere they feel that what they are doing at that moment is contributing to where you want to go with the organization. Keep repeating your vision, BHAG and strategy. Even if you think, "Oh well now everyone knows...," I would just repeat it a few more times.

‍

Draw out (again) the process leading to the desired output

Often these processes were created organically or adapted organically. Simply because it was appropriate at the time. Thus, the method or process becomes the status quo. But when the environment or you as an organization change, you don't always realize that the processes no longer fit how you were used to working. Which can suddenly cause your output to go down while employing more people.

Schedule a meeting with 4 or 5 people from different teams involved in one process together. See together where you can adjust process flows, clarify responsibilities and working arrangements, and increase your output.

‍

Make mistakes!

This may sound crazy in this context, but as soon as you change something, things go wrong, and that's a good thing! Where mistakes are made, innovation happens. Create a culture where people are allowed to make mistakes without being judged for it. Plan retro's, discuss with each other what goes well and where you can still learn, and adjust your processes and working arrangements accordingly immediately.

‍

Good luck with increasing your output. Have questions, want to know what this looks like in practice or just feel like having a cup of coffee? Let us know.

Want to know how your organization is doing right now? Then do the Growth Scan here. Find out right away how you score on:

Build best-performing teams based on objective HR data

A well-executed data-driven HR approach provides a grip on the development and well-being of your people, as well as clarity and transparency. But where do you start and how do you ensure assurance within your organization?