How to Get Back on Track After a Period of Hypergrowth

So your company has been in growth mode. It feels exhilarating as your sales numbers soar. Perhaps you've doubled the number of widgets sold since last year. Or, you have acquired a new company or several companies, and the initiatives to assimilate cultures have been both energy- and time-consuming. Maybe your business has rebooted with a new leadership staff and/or CEO. As a result of their efforts at the helm, profits have skyrocketed while territories expanded and new employees flowed through the corporate doors to manage the increased business. Whatever the case, hypergrowth can be a double-edged sword. While your company's bottom line may be rewarded with an influx of new revenue, the employees swept up in managing the change may find themselves both depleted and off track from their cherished routine. While shaking things up can be invigorating, and in many cases, a much-needed break from routine, it also can become too much of a good thing if it spirals out of control. After a period of hypergrowth, there are several steps companies can take to ensure everyone gets back on track: 1. Assess and act on training needs. Perhaps growth led to a series of promotions and staffing changes. It is likely that some of these folks need additional training to perform at their most effective level. Invest the time and money to ensure they receive the personal training attention to effectively perform their jobs. Assign newly minted leaders with mentors that they can rely upon for in-the-moment coaching. 2. Integrate your acquisitions. If you've acquired another company with separate and / or remote offices and divisions, ensure those offices are integrated with the rest of the company. Leaving them alone to perform business as usual may seem simpler at the outset of the merger. However, if they have their specific way of doing things; i.e., processes for handling customer complaints or methods for selling ABC widgets, and those processes conflict with your company's methods, then trouble may be looming impacting future performance.  3. Upgrade technology and resources. It is likely after a period of major growth that your technology and other resources need augmented. Assign talent to assess the current situation. For example, in order to equip additional employees, or to operationalize a new program, more and/or upgraded technology may be required. Or, perhaps following the merger, your newly shaped entity has conflicting technologies and redundant systems that slow productivity. Address and streamline these redundancies. While the initial investment of both time and money may seem onerous, the long-term gains will provide a valuable return. 4. Conduct an all-hands meeting. Ensure your key leadership teams are in attendance versus sending a proxy in their place. Address your employees with vigor and enthusiasm communicating a concise but complete overview of recent growth and change. Do not make assumptions that everyone is on the same page. Be clear; open up the conversation to all questions. Answer authentically. Follow-up the all-hands meeting with newsletter and other regular, consistent communications. Over-communicating in these instances often is better than leaving employees to create their own narrative. 5. Reward and thank your employees. Do not assume an uptick in sales will be reward enough for your employees, or that a more solid foundation for a sustainable future will fully satiate their needs. Consider what extra step you may take to say thank you for their help during and after the growth initiative. Moreover, if your employees have been working overtime and giving up time with their families or bringing work home, reward them with a personal day or some other form of compensable thank-you. 6. Adjust your sails. If overtime has been the modus operandi throughout the hypergrowth period, step back a moment and reassess. Think through alternatives to 60- and 70-hour workweeks to ensure your employees do not burn out, over the long haul. If this means hiring more help or outsourcing, do it. Winnowing the workload may ultimately increase the results. 7. Retrain, reassign or weed out underperformers. If the newly grown enterprise has exposed weak performers or other links that are not bearing the weight of the new reality, then address those swiftly. It may be that employees in question, if given a chance and some guidance, will up their performance and move forward, in step with your goals. Or, it may be that some hard, but important decisions need to be made in order to get—and keep-- the company on the right track, going forward.