Fast-growing company: what management style to apply?

A period of strong growth in a company is inevitably accompanied by a number of financial, organisational and human upheavals. To lead such development effectively, it is necessary to question governance methods and managerial practices.

But what management style should be put in place to best support your teams in such a context? We take stock.

 

Human challenges in times of strong growth

Whether internal or external, rapid growth in a company presents many challenges on a human level.

To cope with strong growth, it is often necessary to recruit new resources, but also to develop current employees and develop new skills.

During this change management, the manager must therefore ensure the proper integration of new employees, while ensuring that former employees are well adapted to the various changes. Indeed, the landmarks are often turned upside down and conflicts are more frequent in times of hypergrowth.

A high growth rate is also accompanied by a very rapid increase in activity. The teams must therefore operational efficiency and are often subject to additional stress.

The role of the manager is to ensure, in a context of profound transformation, the support and well-being of his employees, while guaranteeing operational excellence in line with the company’s new strategic orientations.

 

What management should be adopted in times of hypergrowth?

There is no single answer to this question. Indeed, The choice of management style in times of growth depends on a large number of factors: the company’s culture, the type of growth, the challenges to be met internally, the profiles of the employees, the company’s growth strategy, etc.

However, it is important to remember some essential managerial keys in a period of growth in activity and increased turnover.

The local manager must in particular ensure that:

• Promoting well-being and ensuring everyone’s commitment

Employee engagement is a central factor in ensuring that growth runs smoothly. In a context of transformation, the manager must therefore redouble his efforts to guarantee everyone’s motivation. A Participative management will be beneficial, for example, to involve teams in strategic decisions, empower employees and generate enthusiasm.

The manager will also have to anticipate resistance to change and listen to employees, their concerns and reassure them.

• Conveying a strong and meaningful vision

To feel involved, employees must understand the challenges and benefits that can result from this growth in activity. This is why it is essential to Convey a meaningful long-term vision through a strong and engaging discourse.

• Ensuring operational excellence

To be able to ensure the operational excellence required in such a context, the manager must delegate tasks efficiently and with confidence.

Indeed, his posture as a local manager evolves and takes on a strong strategic dimension. He must learn to manage larger staff, speed up processes and boost team productivity.

He must also ensure that he defines clear and precise objectives (SMART) and adapts his management method to follow the new pace of the company and the new quality requirements.

• Facilitate internal communication

To manage hypergrowth, effective cross-functional communication is essential to ensure the fluidity of exchanges and avoid the loss of information in a company where everything moves much faster.

To do this, the manager can set up collaborative digital tools and intranet software, such as Slack, allowing immediate communication.

The line manager must also listen to his team by organizing regular, collective and individual meetings, by delivering constructive and benevolent feedback…

To do this, the manager can draw inspiration from horizontal management.

• Develop skills and develop your teams

When a company grows, everyone must learn to be more or less versatile to maintain the level of performance. Functions evolve, intersect and transversal skills are solicited.

It is therefore the manager’s responsibility to train his employees, develop new skills and change everyone’s responsibilities.

• Encouraging innovation

To ensure sustainable growth, the company must continue to innovate and ensure that it does not rest on its achievements.

In order to encourage innovation, creativity and collective intelligence, it is possible to draw inspiration from a collaborative managerial style, which promotes the emergence of ideas and the taking of initiatives.

In the end, it is therefore situational management which is required during a period of strong growth. Above all, the manager must remain flexible and know how to question his management when it seems necessary.

The most important thing is that their management style remains aligned with the company’s values and culture, which often tends to fade in this kind of context.

 

The interim manager: an asset for the fast-growing company

Faced with the strategic challenges associated with a period of strong growth, it will be very beneficial to call on an interim manager to ensure that the organization’s competitiveness is sustainable.

With WAYDEN, an interim manager with 15 to 25 years of experience is able to intervene within the company, regardless of its size (start-ups, VSEs, SMEs, etc.) and its sector of activity.

This high-flying expert will thus be able to support managers in this transition period and make the necessary adjustments to reap the benefits and seize all the opportunities that arise from this hypergrowth.