Increasing Corporate Capacity: The Role of Managers in a Growing Company

A couple years ago I was working with a client who has experienced fantastic success over the last five years. They had grown their company to a level where they could no longer directly oversee all the functions within their business.

This is a common phenomenon for most small businesses at some point. Some remain stuck, while others can overcome the obstacles preventing growth to the next level. One thing is for sure: if you want to move forward, individuals and the business must change.

For those unwilling to change, there are two options:

 1) Hold what you've got.

 2) Scale back to a comfortable operating level.

Either is ok; it's best to be intentional about what you are doing and where you are going. But, if you're going to move to the next level, you must understand that what got you where you are will not get you to where you want to be.

"If you keep doing what you have always done, you will keep getting what you have always got." -Henry Ford.

 If you want to increase organizational capacity, the place to start is by developing leaders and driving a healthy culture. The best place to affect this in a growing company is at the management level of the organization. In small businesses, this level has yet to exist, and it's this level that connects Executive Leaders to the front line. 

 During my leadership journey, I have often found at almost every level of leadership that the hardest person to lead was the one I'd be looking at in the mirror each day while brushing my teeth!! He is also the one I get most frustrated with when things don't go as planned. Self-leadership requires self-development. Being good only gets us so far! We need help getting to the next level. We have to get to the next level as a team, which requires us to develop our emotional intelligence and harness the power of influence.

"Leadership is influence, nothing more, nothing less."

-John Maxwell

When building a team where individuals are willing to put the team's needs above their own, we must loosen our grip, equip team members with the resources they need, and be willing to underwrite mistakes. We should also provide team members at all levels the opportunities to take initiative, make decisions, push back against the status quo, and allow all team members to be heard. This takes practice, and it will only happen when an engaging environment is developed.

Levels of Leadership:

Generally speaking, any organization has four discrete levels of leadership, from the Front-Line to the Executive level.

·      Individual Contributors: Complete work-related tasks, including assembly, sales, customer service, IT, finance, etc. If there is a to-do list, it will be accomplished at this level.

·      Supervisors: These leaders oversee the front line's activities, ensuring the right tasks are completed at the right time while meeting quality standards and delivery timelines. At the same time, these leaders will address and develop the IC's technical skills and address their team members' behaviors and personal issues.

·      Managers: These leaders understand how their team contributes to the organization's overall success. They maintain relationships with other managers, communicate priorities, and direct the activities or steer their team to achieve results. Managers are the connective tissue between executive leadership and the front line. The manager level is the most complicated level of leadership in most organizations.

·      Executive Leaders: Set the organization's direction. To do this, they must communicate, make decisions, align resources, and anticipate risks.

Focus: The ICs and Supervisors are focused on individuals and efficiency, while Managers and Executive Leaders focus on the organization and its effectiveness.

·      Efficiency: Focus on measures of performance, established standards and processes, meeting quotas, and developing individuals.

·      Effectiveness: Create clarity around Mission, Vision, and Priorities. Align Priorities and Execution while driving team performance.

  As a company grows, the distance between Executive Leaders and the front line grows. While a company is small, a challenge for Executive Leaders is distancing themselves from day-to-day operations. While in larger companies, the challenge becomes staying connected to the front line. A lesson I learned and practiced while in the military was focusing two levels down. Just because we're focused two levels down doesn't mean we don't engage the front line. It means the front line is not our focus. What does focusing two levels down look like?

·      The first level is your direct reports. This is the group that we direct and develop.

·      The second level is the first level's direct reports, and our focus is to develop and select for promotion.

I never like to give up the opportunity to use a sports metaphor. "Play your position."  This means different things to different people and different organizations.

I believe it starts with:

1.     Know your primary purpose.

2.     How do you / your team support others inside your organization?

3.     Understand the role of others on your team. What do they do, and how do they affect you and your team?

4.     What is expected of you / your team based on the conditions or the play being run?

Since it is football season, let's talk about running backs. What skills do they need to contribute to the team's success?

·      Run the ball

·      Block

·      Be a receiver

Create Capacity By Developing Managers:

 Most teams I have seen require attention at the management level. This level of leadership can make the most significant difference in any organization, especially a small company experiencing a growth spurt. Mid-level managers are also the group of leaders who are most burnt out due to a lack of clarity, organizational alignment, competing priorities, and, yes, lack of experience and training.

 Similar to developing specific running back skills, investing in developing company managers equips the group that oversees the organization's day-to-day operations. Collectively, this group of leaders creates an environment that allows for a positive culture and employee engagement and equips them to do what managers are expected to do:

·      Coach People

·      Create Inspiration

·      Guide Team Performance

Interested in having a deeper conversation on this subject? Please reach out to me at:

scott@TheProximityGroup.org                          or                                              Schedule a Call