As an organization succeeds, it gets bigger. As more people join the company, communications become more formal and standard procedures are documented to ensure consistent implementation. It becomes harder to encourage people to use their best judgment and expect positive outcomes.
Larger means more bureaucracy and a push for conformity rather than driving for something new. Passion and initiative are compromised as people strive to meet a common standard that must by necessity be defined as just average. Success breeds the fear of failure – with more to lose, there is more pressure not to lose it. How can you fight this trend and encourage the continued pursuit of growth?
While structure and bureaucracy provide a foundation on which to build a business, you cannot lose sight that the consequences of this trend push the organization toward greater reliability, risk-proofing and safety with each decision. Even the best people in your organization can get pulled towards mediocrity.
Leaders return to their roots to reignite their growth culture, citing the company’s purpose, vision and values. They restore their core as the basis to reconsider their future. Focusing on the future is the primary responsibility of leaders. If leaders don’t make time to consider it, who will? Keeping the future in everyone’s mind as the organization works through its everyday pains is a never-ending challenge.
Pursuing growth may be a strategy, but it doesn’t happen without leadership and the commitment of your people. Foster a little insurgency once in a while, encouraging your team to demonstrate initiative and achieve something beyond the bureaucracy. Introduce a new idea or technology that disrupts the status quo and compels a response. Radically accelerate your speed to market or response time. Change the infrastructure, the rules or the flow of information to empower or quicken decision-making.
Balancing the need for stability with the drive for growth is not easy. That makes it worth pursuing as a way to overcome the fear of failure.
How does your organization balance structure with initiative?
How can you encourage the occasional insurgency?
