Ensure Your People Strategy Supports High Growth

Ensure Your People Strategy Supports High Growth
If you are one of the lucky businesses set up for high growth in the coming months or a business that aspires to grow rapidly, be sure your people strategy supports high growth plans.  Our organizational alignment research found talent accounts for 29% of the difference between high and low performing companies.

Avoid the People Pitfalls of High Growth
Too many companies suffer serious employee burnout, disengagement, or turnover as they move up the growth curve. If you want to ensure your people strategy supports high growth, don’t let your organization be among them.

Five Ways to Drive Engagement During High Growth
Here are five ways you can prepare for keeping your people engaged even while the company is expanding by leaps and bounds. Essentially, it’s all about looking to the future and making sure your people strategy supports high growth in terms of systems, processes, and practices.

1. Keep Senior Leaders Front and Center
   One of the common complaints of employees in high growth organizations is that they feel disconnected from leadership. When the company was small, everyone knew the folks in charge; as the company grew, the leaders became less accessible.

   Especially during times of high growth, make sure your leaders are “out on the floor” regularly. They need to talk with employees and listen to what they’re thinking. In other words, increase the frequency of contact and decrease the distance between leaders and employees.

2. Communicate Regularly about Current and Future Changes
   High growth increases the rate of organizational change – and thus the level of anxiety among employees. Make sure your managers are well versed on how to manage change effectively.

   Leaders need to encourage regular, open dialogue so that employees feel some control over their own future and the future of the company.  Welcome and actively consider input from employees at all stages.

3. Update Your Rewards and Recognition Plan
   It may have been fine when you were small to have recognition come through weekly meetings and rewards to be paid through discretionary bonuses.

   Now, however, you need to build rewards and recognition into your overall talent management strategy. Think through how you can effectively reward and recognize superior effort and success – a key to creating a high performance culture.

4. Prepare for a More Competitive Compensation Program
   As your employee population grows, your compensation plans will likely become more important and more complex. You may have increased job categories or need more highly skilled employees.

   To grow, you need a compensation program that is competitive, consistent and fair – and one that can be easily understood and administered.

5. Provide Career Development Opportunities
   Now that you’re playing on the “grown-up” field, you need to offer your employees opportunities to develop in their careers. Your managers need to be able to have career development conversations with each of their team members.

   Employees who can visualize a clear path forward are more engaged and less likely to look for greener pastures elsewhere.

The Bottom Line
The good news is that you are growing. The better news is that you are prepared with a people strategy that supports high growth.

To learn more about taking your people strategy to the next level, download The Top 3 Ingredients Required for Talent Management Success