Scaling Up: Challenges and Solutions Part 3

by | Feb 29, 2024

Action coach image of a team in a meeting laughing. This image represents maintaining corporate culture.

One of the largest challenges facing business today is maintaining corporate culture. As a business scales, the fear is that the culture of that business will change so much that it will get lost somewhere along the transition. Although the culture is closely connected to the company mission, it should evolve as the company grows. But how do you maintain it during and after scaling? Can your company culture survive scaling? Believe it or not, scaling culture is not difficult. Here are a few tips to help you with this challenge.

Document Everything

As you probably did in the beginning, when you first launched your company, you wrote down every little detail. This is also an important step to follow as your company scales. Tracking changes and steps taken to make them will not only give you an important reference tool, but it will show you precisely where things changed or where they should be to keep your corporate culture from morphing far from the company mission.

When you write everything down, you can carefully explain in full detail why something is the way it is and how it fits into the overall picture. Essentially, you are creating an operations manual that spells out far more than jobs and tasks. However, by developing a written account of all that is part of your company, you have a valuable tool to keep everyone grounded when situations shift too far from where they should be at all times.

Action coach image shows to Document Everything. The image shows of someone going through a draw full of documents and picking one out.

Use Digital Tools

Technology has taken on a much bigger role in today’s office setting. Companies have also turned to technology to automate many tasks. However, technology has also introduced many different types of communication tools to the corporate world. It is with these that employees working remotely, or at several locations within a large building, can connect and stay connected. This is a great way for staff to engage and provide input.

Keep Team Leaders Accessible

Speaking of engagement, one way to keep employees connected to managers and other company leaders is by always providing access. It could be something as simple as an open-door policy or a casual coffee chat scheduled regularly where leaders meet with staff to connect and discuss matters. Keeping social connections between staff and management keeps corporate culture intact, especially during company growth.

Action coach image of Introduce Culture During Job Interviews. this image shows a person being interviewed and showing new ideas to the employers

Introduce Culture During Job Interviews

New hires have some influence on the corporate culture. Scaling a business often results in a need for more staff. Tailoring interview questions to draw out more about how a new hire interacts with their surroundings can help you determine if this person is a good fit. It will also tell you if the new hire can embrace the company culture and become part of it or help it to evolve to include them. With the right people in place, scaling is easier, and maintaining the corporate culture is also accomplished with ease.

Make It A Daily Opportunity

Scaling culture is a challenge. However, it is possible when you remember that it travels in two very distinct directions. It comes from the top down through team leaders and managers. It also moves from the bottom up through various 

levels of employees. The important thing is to encourage it to keep moving back and forth through daily interaction, behaviour, communication, and other forms of engagement.

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Conclusion

Scaling a business is a good sign. It shows that the company is experiencing growth to meet demand for its products or services. However, scaling often means big changes in how things are done. The mission of a company provides the foundation for its culture and provided it is flexible enough to accept change, scaling culture is easy. What also needs to happen is effort being put into maintaining the corporate culture during the business growth phase. There are many ways of doing that which have been outlined here. Every business owner wants to have a successful business. By recognising the contributions of everyone to the corporate culture of that business, it can succeed with ease.