What Happens When Your Business Outgrows A Team Member

As your business grows, the needs of your business will change. As the needs of your business change, what your team needs to succeed will change as well. Sometimes, the people you have will adapt and fit well with changing demands, but that may not be the case.

Someone’s skillset may not line up well with what you now need, or it could be as simple as an employee being unable to take on larger amounts of work in addition to their existing duties. So, in these situations, so the question is “How do you properly upgrade your team as your needs change?”

First, quality people are hard to find. There’s a reason they were part of your team in the first place. Even if the greater needs of your business have changed, that doesn’t mean the work they currently do is obsolete. Upgrading your team and finding new people to fill roles doesn’t need to mean getting rid of existing team members, and in many cases it shouldn’t.

Current team members likely have valuable experience within your organization. If they are familiar with and respected by the rest of your team, and understand how the business functions in a practical sense they are likely to be able to make continuing contribution. They may have trusted relationships with customers, contractors and suppliers. Getting rid of these people is a waste not only of talent, but of the time you’ve invested in them. Keeping them around in a reduced capacity can be invaluable.

To quote Ben Horowitz, from his book The Hard Thing About Hard Things, "There are no shortcuts to knowledge, especially knowledge gained from personal experience. Following conventional wisdom and relying on shortcuts can be worse than knowing nothing at all."

Scrapping people entirely is that shortcut. It’s easy to look at somebody and think "They are no longer fulfilling the purpose they did before, they need to go," but it can be more valuable to change the direction of that line of thinking.

What are their core talents and abilities?

What role can they fulfill?

Where do you go from here?

When it comes to recruiting new people to your team to fill evolving roles, it can be valuable to have the support of the legacy team member. This can ensure a smooth transfer of responsibilities and avoid disruptions in your business.

They might even help with recruiting and selecting their replacement. They’re equipped with the knowledge of what characteristics and qualities are valuable in the role, and it helps to understand not only what you’re upgrading to, but what you’re upgrading from. Additionally, if you’re considering adding to your leadership team through internal promotions, then it’s entirely possible that the old team member already has a few people in mind that would be good in their role.

One last important factor to consider is the way in which changes to the team will be communicated. Whether among the rest of your leadership or the people working under that member of your team, these kinds of changes will affect several people. The goal is to minimize disruptions and provide clarity, in terms of what’s going to happen and what to expect.

Upgrading your team as your business grows isn’t easy, but that doesn’t mean that it needs to be painful. Through making efforts to ensure the change is as frictionless as possible via clear communication and the support of the team member in question, issues can be minimized. And at the end of the process, and perhaps a small adjustment period, your team will be fully equipped to handle the next stage of your business.

I would be remiss if I did not share another perspective. In my personal experience, I was in a leadership role in a Fortune 500 company that went through two acquisitions and four reorganizations in a little over two years. I was highly experienced and was recruited to work in the business as it existed before acquisitions and reorgs.

When the people above me decided they wanted the organization to function in a completely different manner, they very quickly and awkwardly let me know they wanted me to exit. While I was paid for months afterward, they forced my exit within a week and we all moved on. I did not think that was the best approach, but I was happy to leave a place where I was not valued.

Another experience, I was on the incoming side of the equation was when I was recruited to work at First Colony / GE. The existing head of marketing communications shared with leadership that he did not want to be part of the changing organization and would take early retirement. He led the recruiting for the role and recommended me – someone he had come to know and respect through our mutual participation in a trade organization. We worked together for several months before he exited, and I was elevated to his role.

As noted in a recent article, the key to handling situations like this is clear, candid human conversations. Even in the “Hard Thing about Hard Things,” Horowitz emphasizes treating people well in difficult situations. There is no reason to do otherwise.