When you grow up as a company, two things usually happen.
First, complexity rises over time. It looks like a real-life application of the second law of thermodynamics.
Second, a more or less thin layer of politics starts to build up.
Organic growth should try to fight these two highly toxic phenomena.
We have always tried to stay lean in our processes over time. We wanted to be able to change processes, where needed, in a fast and effective way. Does it work? Yes. Fine, let’s keep it. Is it a failure? Yes, throw it out of the window. Staying lean keeps things running smoothly.
What happens is that with the segregation of functions, it gets more challenging to understand what is happening inside every single process running the company. People want their job done and may lose simplicity by following that path. Something that makes your work easier is creating significant hurdles for other people in the company.
Complexity increases.
Sometimes you must stop, put all the people in the same room, and harmonize everything from the ground up.
It is a painful process; the thicker the political layer is, the more challenging the harmonization process.
Nevertheless, you can’t avoid it if you want to stay successful and fuel your next growth step.