- April, 2024 | Share :
When your business is small, it's easier to keep your team, your workflows, and your technology aligned. But as you grow, processes that once worked like a charm need updating, your team's roles become more specialized, and the technology stack gets more complex. It's normal for these elements to start feeling a bit disconnected.
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The People Problems
There’s ~75% correlation between adopting employee-centered policies and high-growth companies.
-Forbes , “The Fast Growth Companies Do HR Right”, Dr. Gleb Tsipursky - Jul 29, 2023.
Rapid growth is exciting, but if you forget to take your people along, things can quickly go south. Neglecting to align your team with new tech and processes is a recipe for disaster. Here’s how to recognize the problem before it starts
1. Skill Gaps and Training Lag Can Cost You Big
Focusing solely on technology upgrades and business development while neglecting talent sourcing can lead to wasted resources on onboarding, replacing, and recruiting. Imagine your sales team struggling to meet quotas because half the reps lack the necessary skills or experience.
Failing to prioritize long-term talent needs can leave you stuck with a team that can't keep up with the new ways your processes work. Remember, A-players attract A-players, while B-players attract...well, you get the picture. Over time, the team's performance stagnates or declines.
2. Constant Confusion Repels Talent
Rapidly changing priorities and a chaotic work environment - are not a recipe for attracting or retaining top talent. No matter which technology solution you use, if you can’t get people to use it efficiently, you’re looking at longer timelines and missed opportunities.
If your team feels unsupported, which can lead to high turnover leads to, low morale, and decreased productivity - the crucial aspects of your business lose their competitive edge. Not maintaining top performers can be a costly lesson to learn.
3. Communication Gap Hinders Growth
When your people don’t understand the big picture, individual efforts become misaligned, leading to wasted resources and duplication of tasks. For instance, your sales team is unable to leverage the new platform effectively because of a lack of training. They might be working on pushing a product that you are planning to phase out. This can result in lost sales opportunities and wasted efforts.
Failing to prioritize your people strategy during rapid growth will leave you scrambling to meet KPIs across the board. Invest in building a strong, aligned team, and watch your company reach its full potential.
The Technology Disconnect
What happens when technology upgrades do not go hand in hand with how people and processes function in your company? Here's how misaligned tech can stall your growth.
4. Hidden Cost of Not Upgrading Tech
Clinging to outdated systems results in higher running costs, longer work hours, and a stressed-out workforce. Imagine what AI, machine learning, or even basic automation tools could do for your productivity. Even if you are not investing in technology, your competitors will.
Your customers expect real-time service and personalized experiences. Imagine your customer waiting on hold for an eternity or receiving inaccurate information. Falling short on technology can lead to a decline in customer satisfaction scores and a rise in customer churn.
5. Tech That Doesn’t Get Along With Your Team
Do not get swept by the allure of cutting-edge tech, forgetting that successful implementation requires considering how people work. Investment in disruptive technologies without a clear strategy may yield diminishing and ultimately negative returns on investment.
Consider this: You provided a new service management system to your service team, which is mostly on the road. Your star service technician has built your reputation on personalized door-to-door service and on-the-spot solutions. However, the “update” requires detailed data entry on a clunky laptop. The result? Customer service suffers, and you lose a valuable team member who doesn't understand his role anymore.
Forcing a technology that doesn't go with the working style leads to employee resistance, wasted resources on underutilized features, and, ultimately, lost business.
6. Adverse Effects of Automating Without Analysis
While automation can be great, focusing solely on the initial cost savings without considering the ongoing maintenance and potential disruptions can backfire.
An online learning platform automated their basic invoice processing for the finance team. At first, it was a dream come true! The bot tackled those repetitive tasks, freeing up the team for more strategic work like financial analysis. But hold on a sec…
Things took a turn for the worse every time vendors changed their invoice formats. The IT team had to constantly make updates and adjustments to keep functioning. What was supposed to be a time-saving hero started wasting valuable resources.
Pitfalls for Processes
Failing to adapt processes to your growing company can lead to financial losses, decreased efficiency, and a strained work environment. Let’s see what can happen:
7. Ignoring Process Updates Can Sink You
Got more people, and better tools? That’s not enough. Your processes should complement them.
Here’s an example: A marketing team of three managed all social media campaigns for a startup. As the company grew, it had a global audience and a diverse team. The team got new tools to manage multiple social media accounts and analytics.
Soon, juggling multiple platforms and systems became overwhelming. The result? Missed opportunities, brand inconsistencies and the team is on the verge of burnout. Low engagement on social media posts, declining brand awareness, and a rise in employee turnover all contribute to a decrease in ROI.
8. Revisions Without Clear Communication Can Misfire
How will things work from now on? What has the leadership decided? Lack of clarity about the defining roles and responsibilities leads to errors, delays, and missed opportunities. When you invest heavily to modernize the systems, everyone should be on the same page.
Consider this: You introduce a brilliant new sales strategy. Fast-forward six months, and management blames the reps for not following instructions, while the reps claim they never received clear guidelines. The result? Missed sales quotas, lead generation stalls, and overall revenue growth suffers.
Congratulations on your growing business! Sensing some disharmony? Share your details, and we'll discuss how to resolve it.