Growth Requires More Than Working Harder

As an organization grows, the demands on its employees, infrastructure, leaders, and stakeholders increase as well.

A task that was easily managed by one person may eventually require additional people, better systems, or delegated authority. The same is true for leadership responsibilities.

During a company's early stages, the owner or senior leader may be heavily involved in everyday operations. That may work exceptionally well when the organization is small. But as the company grows, that same level of involvement can become difficult to sustain. More importantly, time spent managing today's operations is time that cannot be spent looking toward the organization's future.

Employees experience this pressure too. Someone hired to perform a specific job may gradually take on additional responsibilities as the scope of the business expands. Initially, people may simply step up and get the job done. But if responsibilities continue to grow without corresponding changes in staffing, authority, processes, or expectations, the trust and efficiency that helped the organization succeed in its early stages can begin to erode.

Increased pay may help, but it does not necessarily solve the underlying problem. Leaders working longer hours may compensate for the strain temporarily, but that approach has limits as well.

At some point, growth requires more than asking people to do more. It requires the organization to evolve.

The question for leaders is not simply, “Can we handle the additional work?”

It may be:

“Has our organization changed enough to support what we have become?”