Bozo explosion alert
If you ask any startup what they are focusing on, the majority will say growth. Which is pretty obvious right? As a startup, you need to keep the momentum going and achieve those targets in your business plan. And with all of that growth, you have to scale up the team. This is where it can be the beginning of the end for a company's long term growth.
You don't have to look far before you see countless articles on Hire slow, fire fast or of some similar ilk and this is not going to be one of them. But there is a reason for so many articles on the topic. The bozo explosion is a significant problem that affects countless companies let alone startups. In short, the bozo explosion is what happens when you hire the wrong people too quickly to increase growth ( in the short term ) and end up taking an A star team to....well....a not so A star team and your growth stagnates.
"A small team of A+ players can run circles around a giant team of a B and C players." Steve Jobs
This is a bit of a double-edged sword. Whilst true, it also puts your organisation at significant risk if one of those A+ players leaves or falls ill. Especially if there is an increasing amount of pressure, targets, deadlines that keep falling on their shoulders.
But every founder knows that hiring is important. This is not new. So why does this problem occur? It comes down to pressure and time. Founders are under immense pressure to utilize the momentum and scale with little to no time. This is the constant problem that founders are addressed with and what this article will focus on fixing.
First, put yourself in their shoes. Things are going well, orders are increasing, but resources are maxed out. To increase further you don’t have many options
Effectively, they only have three:
1) Hire quickly
This is a very short term solution that will boost sales but will drastically harm the team and growth in the future.
2) Push the team harder
Very risky play. It has a high risk of burning out your A+ players and then putting you in an even worse position than you started with
3) Hire an agency/outsource the work
Will solve the situation in the short term but will hamstring your growth in the future as you will be dependent on them and as soon as an agency realizes you are dependent -> new fees/renegotiate
So what do you do?
Honestly, if your in this position then you've already made a crucial mistake. You've not made culture the most important aspect of your company. (more on this next week)
"Culture eats strategy for breakfast." Peter Drucker
But, realistically, what should you do?
Remove option 1 completely from the table. The bozo explosion is, honest to god, a problem that will assuredly stop your growth in the future. There is a reason why the most talented athletes in the world want to play against athletes at similar levels. If you A+ players start seeing "bozo's" around them, they will soon leave, if they have not already.
Next, sit down individually with the critical team members that contribute the most to your growth or are needed the most for the growth and have an honest conversation about workload and targets. Ask them where they need the most help and what timeline they can operate on doing the work just themselves. This will give you three things, 1) they appreciate you bringing them into your confidence, 2) You will know the absolute timeline in which you need to find someone and 3 ) it will give you the time you need to hire the right person with the right culture for the team.
If the team members are already underwater, then as a last resort, speak to a few agencies for short term hires. Make it very clear it is not a long term engagement. This would only be an option if after speaking to your team you think there is a high chance of one of them burning out.
Finally, go over your business plan and targets and speak with your investors or core members about changing them. Guaranteeing that you have a strong culture that continues to have high-performance year after year is more important to everyone involved than hitting next quarters targets.