If you're faced with rapid growth you're presented with a number of challenges.
Some of those are leadership and organisational challenges such as:
- How do we scale headcount without our processes breaking?
- How does our relationship with other teams in the org change as we grow?
- What happens when our capability overlaps with another team?
And some of the challenges take on a more personal perspective:
- How will my role change as we grow?
- How will my responsibilities change?
- How will I feel as we change?
A simple canvas you can use to structure discussion around your team's future
None of these are questions with easy answers, but they must be tackled and they require open, honest and constructive discussion.
Two things that we have found work really well for these types of discussion are:
- Frame everything in the future
- Always be capturing
The first point is crucial because you want to avoid the discussion revolving around what has gone before. This will quickly devolve into a retrospective which can often lead to much trickier conversations (these are important, but at another time and for different reasons).
The second point is all about making the discussion feel like a workshop, making sure that people are seen and heard and recognised by capturing the important parts about what they see, and ensuring that point of view is integrated into the final outcome.
In the end you want to walk out of the room with a shared perspective on the future for your team, and at least some concrete commitments on what you're going to do individually and as a team to realise that future.
