Adding people to your team is often a sign that you’re doing something right but effectively leading that team through a period of rapid growth can be challenging to accomplish especially when you’re looking to scale up the business quickly to meet growing demand.
Most leaders will likely be in a rush to get folks on board who can help meet that growing demand but each new person added to the team is potentially going to impact someone else. The culture you’ve worked so hard as a leader to nurture can all of a sudden look fragile. Even when badly needed, new help can be unsettling to a team if not onboarded effectively.
At a time like this when you’re likely running at full speed it’s difficult to find the space for a little self-reflection to remind yourself of the fundamental values you’ve coached into your team from day one but it’s important that you do. It’s important because you don’t want that critical period of growth that can make or break your success to be derailed by a fractured team dynamic.
Just as you’ve coached your team a good coach can help you too to set out the structured plan you need to maintain sight of your goals through that growing team and to build in the accountability measures to ensure you remain on track.
Make the right hire, not any hire…
Hire with the entire team in mind, resisting the urge to fill a vacant seat in haste and risk onboarding a disruptive influence or one with a fundamentally misaligned skillset. A good coach will support you in establishing precisely what it is that you want to achieve with the hire and in seeking input and counsel to get the right people through the door and to avoid the mistake of simply hiring in your own image.
Encourage a collective sense of belonging…
You’ve worked hard to foster a great team dynamic and sense of purpose so it’s important that both the incumbent team and new starters feel that shared purpose from the outset. Avoiding ambiguity by spelling out cultural expectations rather than hoping everyone simply picks it up will be something you should consider building into your hiring strategy. Your values will set the tone and your coach will work with you to ensure you don’t lose sight of these and are not afraid to share them openly.
Engender inclusivity…
As the leader you set the tone around how open and inclusive the team will be to new staff and new ideas. Collectively the team will likely make better decisions and generate more creative solutions which a coaching-lead approach to leadership will foster. Having someone work with you to keep you accountable to your values will help as you then demand and encourage the whole team to keep an open mind and maintain an environment where no one shuts down ideas.
Accept that conflict will happen…
It’s almost inevitable that someone will get rubbed up the wrong way at some point but a team with the right culture will deal with it all by itself without needing serious intervention. Your coaching-lead approach will help resolve matters by tasking the team to resolve the problem itself and empowering team members to take the reasonable steps necessary by themselves.
Embedding a coaching philosophy…
Working with a professional coach isn’t just for leaders and offering team members either formally or informally the opportunity to work with someone who can coach them in a non-judgemental and non-directive way can be hugely empowering. It’s a great strategy to use when leading a growing team. Not only can this arrangement help to get new hires productive more quickly, but it’s also a great way to help more tenured employees develop their own coaching skills.
I work with business owners and leaders looking to navigate periods of change as they scale up their teams through periods of rapid change and growth.
