Navigating Organisational Growth: Is Your Infrastructure Ready?
Those of you that know me, know that I love an analogy. This one resonated recently – taken from Culture Built My Brand by Mark Miller & Ted Vaughn.
Imagine a living space. It’s basic but it has everything you need – and you’re just getting started so it doesn’t need to be fancy. As long as it has running water, waste water disposal, electricity, heating, a roof, somewhere to sleep, somewhere to eat, somewhere to rest – you’re all set.
But then imagine you attract a mate. Now you need a bit more room, you use a bit more water, the bed needs to be bigger – and the table. They also bring with them a TV, maybe a wireless device. Now you need another plug socket – and WiFi.
Soon your friends find out about your idyllic little hide away. So you build an extension, a second and third bedroom, another bathroom and a sun deck.
It’s a great place. Even more people find out about your great place and come to visit but this time they stay. So together, you build another extension, you build up and you build out!
Everything is great until your fuse board blows and your pipes block – creating a mess. This leads to your guests scrambling to get in their cars, desperate to move on to somewhere nicer.
Growth businesses can be like this. The same infrastructure that underpinned a startup is often expected to serve a scale up – and beyond. Your processes can be impacted the same way. They can become convoluted as you bolt on and build out as a result of growth. All of a sudden your people are jumping through hoops that you created to help them work more efficiently.
If your pipes aren’t fit for purpose and your fuse board is about to blow, it might be time to take a step back and look at your systems, processes and culture before your people scramble for their cars.
To help you to do this Human have developed a Culture Capture Audit to identify challenges within organisations. Covering 12 areas we help identify what’s working well and where opportunities to improve exist.
In the past we’ve identified operational drag, flight risk, as well as the good stuff and the great stuff. We’ve also captured amazing stories of employees going over and above, even saving lives – stories that weren’t captured (or shared) centrally.
The Culture Capture Audit will help capture the essence of your organisation, as seen by your people. It will also identify all the issues and opportunities below the surface level, letting you know if your pipes are about to burst before they do.
How’s your plumbing holding up? If you want to find out, get in touch and let’s start a conversation.