A Leader's Guide to Creating High-Growth Organizations

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There are few organizations who don’t want growth. For the past 2 years, leaders have been struggling with growth due to shifts towards virtual and hybrid. Talent retention has also been difficult as seen from the Great Resignation still taking place. The best employees now have the option to choose employers with enriching cultures that fit their needs.

On today’s podcast episode, we interview Andrew Bartlow, Founder and Managing Partner of Series B Consulting and co-author of the book, Scaling for Success: People Priorities for High-Growth Organizations. Today’s topics are locked-in on how to prepare your organization to take the next steps towards high-growth.

Creating High-Growth Organizations

According to Andrew, there are three elements which leaders should implement to create high-growth organizations.

Working on the Right Things – Leaders should be able to narrow-down the things that they are trying to accomplish by making sure that goals and initiatives are cascaded and aligned at the same time.
Effective Communication – Regular check-ins between managers and team members are very essential. Leaders must have in their schedule the time to talk with their people.
Having Planned Gatherings – By planning meetings and gatherings in designated Leadership Centers, teams can establish a sense of belonging and camaraderie.

Addressing Challenges in High-Growth

Resources of high-growth organizations in terms of money are often enormous. More often than not, these are not managed correctly. Andrew said that there are two things that an organization can do to address this challenge.

Being Intentional – This requires leaders to be able to communicate both individual and team goals clearly and to do so continually.
Prioritization – This is the biggest challenge for high-growth organizations as leaders tend to struggle with activities that create bottlenecks. Leaders can cut through bottlenecks by prioritizing the things that drive growth and regularly checking-in on team members that need assistance. This creates a nurturing environment for growth.

The Best Investments in High-Growth

Leaders often believe that having many projects spinning at once is the best way to promote growth. Andrew mentioned that companies don’t need to spread money across many endeavors in the hope that one or more will stick. Rather, Andrew advises that leaders invest in focus and clarity by continually seeking the answers to the following questions below:

What are the most important things that the organization needs to be working on?
How do you prioritize against all the other things that are coming up on a leader’s plate?
How do you intend to plan out your resources when things are moving fast?

Talent Development and Retention in High-Growth Companies

Companies should strive to continually develop their human resources. This is a good investment for both skill and professional development. There are excellent training programs available remotely and companies should generously make these available. Due to the fact that talent is mobile in the remote world, promoting a culture that invests in its people can positively improve talent retention.

Who is Andrew Bartlow?

Andrew Bartlow has 25 years of Human Resources and Talent Management experience at organizations across a wide spectrum of sizes, maturity stages, and industries. He is the co-author of Scaling for Success: People Priorities for High Growth Organizations, has a master’s degree from University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, and has been CECP, SPHR, Six Sigma, and executive coaching certified.

Andrew leads Series B Consulting, which helps businesses to articulate their people strategy and accelerate growth, while navigating rapid change. He also founded the People Leader Accelerator, which is the preeminent development program for startup HR leaders.