There has really never been a time where organizations didn’t strive for one thing: Stability.
“In most industries – and in almost all companies, from giants on down – heightened global competition has concentrated management’s collective mind on something that, in the past, it happily avoided: change.” (Booz & Company) HBS now reports that, since 1999, successful companies develop “a culture that just keeps moving all the time.”
Smaller companies get this – at our core, change is probably what we know best. At a sub <100 person company most of your time is spent figuring out process, iterating, developing, innovating and changing as you figure out what is working and what is not. What is making money, what is not.
But what happens when you double? Triple? 10X growth and are 500 people? 2,000?
Size and bodies start to prevent those natural processes from happening past a certain point. Studies have been uncovered that when you reach around 150 people (the magic number) people start to feel the cultural change and processes of a larger company slowing down the speed in which a company moves. Referred to as “Dunbar’s number” it is described as where community shifts, since humans struggle to create and maintain relationships past that point. In short, things shift as more people are added to the equation.
In larger companies, the plan to maintain stability is usually triaged based. What can we solve, now? Advisors, executives, and management are usually very good at devising the best strategic and tactical plan. However — most fail to understand the human side of change management. This is the “alignment of the company’s culture, values, people, and behaviors — to encourage the desired results.”
At TwentyPine, I’ve seen people nail this. Companies who are proactive in their hiring. They come to us knowing “I have 5 sales reps, we know X and Y but are starting to ask questions around Z. I need to hire a Sales Ops Manager before we press on the gas and hire 15 more reps this year.”
No shit. Because, what good is the data if you aren’t measuring it?
Unfortunately, we also see companies lose big time on this. Especially in the Salesforce world. Massive financial institutions, F100 companies, Global organizations. Companies that we as startups look up to, admire, and can’t wait to be somewhat resemblant to, completely mess up the purchasing of, implementation and adoption of new technology. On top of that, we all know companies of this size aren’t just buying Salesforce. They are buying everything to support their organization at scale.
Change management is the process in which prepares, guides and supports individuals to adopt the change in order to drive success and outcomes the organization is looking for in their purchase of a technology, the welcoming of a Sr. team member, the investment in a new initiative, and so forth.
We’re going to dive deep into this topic this month, and this summer. We’ve seen companies lose and win, and we’ve recruited some of the biggest thought leaders in the space to come and speak to our network on this topic.
- What is Change Management?
- What principles work best for what types of companies?
- What steps can I take as an organization (of any size) to effectively drive change?
- How do I continue to see these changes, and incorporate this process at all levels in my organization?
Come see our panel on June 20th to learn more – register HERE!