94 / UNDERSTANDING LEADERSHIP
Growing with your role
Start-up
When an organization starts up, it is
entrepreneurial—focused on delivering
a new service to new customers. Often,
communication is informal, and people
are prepared to put in long hours.
Customer feedback is quick and the
small group of people responds rapidly
with enthusiasm and energy.
Leadership at this stage is about
keeping close to customers and staff,
and encouraging new ideas. As a leader,
you may well be involved in frontline
activities as well as decisions.
Rapid growth
As the organization grows, you may
start to see problems with the quality of
delivery. Communication with the team
may become more formal and some of
the initial energy and initiative can be
lost. More of your time will be spent on
designing and implementing systems,
structures, and standards.
At this stage, you need to work hard at
remaining accessible to people who seek
your advice and resist retreating into a
purely management role.
Growth is built in to the vision of most organizations; and when an
organization grows, its leaders must be prepared to adapt with it.
Your role as a leader may become bigger and more strategic with
each organizational transition, so anticipating change is a cornerstone
of thinking like an effective leader.
90%
of the fastest-growing
US companies are run
by their founders
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GROWING WITH YOUR ROLE / 95
Devolution
As the organization continues to grow,
you may become part of a high-level
leadership team directing strategy and
coordination, while a group of managers
in business units lead teams on a
devolved basis.
You need to become a strong
communicator because a significant
part of your role is resolving tensions
between devolved units and the center.
You need to manage relationships to
ensure that all parts of the organization
work collaboratively and are fully
committed to the overall strategy.
Bear in mind the development of future
leaders is essential to the long-term
survival of the organization and is
another one of your new responsibilities.
Continued growth
The next organizational transition occurs
when you realize that you can no longer
control everything—there are simply not
enough hours in the day. You may notice
that team members are complaining
about how long it takes for decisions
to be made. They may ask for greater
freedom to make their own decisions.
At this point, you should begin
to recognize the need to delegate—
essential if you are to retain and develop
staff. You should put more of your
time and effort into leadership and
communication and less into your
original expertise—for example,
accounting, sales, marketing,
engineering, or operations.
You should be putting
increasing amounts
of your time and effort
into leadership
and communication
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