Managing Agency Growth: The People Perspective

# Managing Agency Growth: The People Perspective Agency growth is exciting. It's also where many agencies stumble. Here's how to scale successfully. ## The Growth Stages Each stage brings different people challenges: ### Stage 1: Founding Team (1-10 people) **Characteristics:** - Everyone does everything - Direct communication works - Culture is organic - Fast decision-making - High trust, low process **People challenges:** - Finding first hires who fit - Setting initial culture - Defining roles as you grow - Balancing work and hiring **Key actions:** - Hire slowly, fire fast - Document as you go - Create basic role clarity - Set cultural foundation ### Stage 2: Team Building (10-25 people) **Characteristics:** - Specialist roles emerge - Communication gets harder - Informal processes strain - Sub-groups form - Founders can't know everything **People challenges:** - Communication breakdown - Process vs flexibility tension - First management layer needed - Culture dilution risk - Hiring pace pressure **Key actions:** - Introduce team meetings - Document key processes - Create communication rhythms - Hire first managers - Protect culture actively ### Stage 3: Structure Building (25-50 people) **Characteristics:** - Departments form - Middle management critical - Systems become essential - Silos can emerge - Specialization increases **People challenges:** - Department rivalries - Information silos - Process overhead - Maintaining culture - Leadership development **Key actions:** - Define clear structure - Invest in managers - Create cross-team forums - Build HR capability - Strengthen leadership ### Stage 4: Scaling (50+ people) **Characteristics:** - Multiple layers exist - Processes everywhere - Sub-cultures common - Politics emerge - Complexity increases **People challenges:** - Bureaucracy creep - Innovation slowdown - Talent retention - Culture fragmentation - Leadership consistency **Key actions:** - Fight bureaucracy - Protect agility - Invest heavily in culture - Develop leaders - Stay connected to people ## The Predictable Mistakes Agencies repeatedly make these errors: **1. Hiring too fast** - Quality drops - Culture dilutes - Management overwhelms *Better*: Hire deliberately, even if slower **2. Promoting unprepared people** - Great creatives become poor managers - No support or training - Performance suffers *Better*: Develop leaders before they need to be **3. Ignoring culture** - "It'll be fine" - Too busy to care - Assume it self-maintains *Better*: Culture requires active investment **4. Delaying structure** - "We're not corporate" - Chaos mistaken for creativity - Confusion about who does what *Better*: Clarity enables creativity **5. Under-investing in managers** - Expect natural ability - No training or support - Blame individuals for system failures *Better*: Build management capability intentionally ## The Critical Transitions Some changes are pivotal: **Founder → CEO:** - From doing to enabling - From creative to strategic - From hands-on to hands-off **First management layer:** - Founders can't do everything - Need people to lead people - Delegation becomes essential **Introducing structure:** - Roles and responsibilities clarified - Reporting lines defined - Processes documented **Building HR capability:** - From ad-hoc to systematic - Professional people practices - Compliance and risk management ## What Often Gets Lost As you grow, protect: **Speed:** - Decision-making slows with layers - Bureaucracy accumulates - "That's not how we do things" emerges *Maintain*: Clear decision rights, push authority down **Creativity:** - Process can kill experimentation - Risk aversion increases - "Safe" work becomes default *Maintain*: Protected innovation time, celebrate smart failures **Connection:** - People don't know everyone - Silos emerge - "Us vs them" thinking *Maintain*: Cross-team projects, all-hands meetings, physical gatherings **Culture:** - What made you special fades - New people don't experience it - Original team feels lost *Maintain*: Explicit values, onboarding investment, culture champions ## The Role of HR At different stages, HR needs evolve: **Under 10:** Founder handles everything **10-25:** Part-time HR support or consultant **25-50:** Dedicated HR person **50+:** HR team with specialists Don't wait too long—hire before you're desperate. ## Communication at Scale As you grow, communication requires more structure: **What works at 10:** - Stand-up every morning - Everyone in same space - Osmosis and overhearing **What's needed at 50:** - All-hands monthly meetings - Department meetings weekly - Team meetings daily/weekly - Written updates regular - Multiple channels (Slack, email, meetings) ## Managing the Founders' Role Change Founders must evolve or leave: **What usually needs to change:** - Letting go of control - Working through others - Strategic vs tactical focus - Public leadership vs private work - Teaching others vs doing yourself **This is hard**. Get support—coach, mentor, peer group. ## When to Get External Help Consider bringing in experts when: - You're hitting growth pains - People issues consuming leaders - Culture or retention problems - Scaling past your experience - Need structure but don't want corporate - Founders struggling with transition ## The Timeline Reality Growing well takes time. Rough timelines: - **0-10 people**: 12-24 months - **10-25 people**: 18-36 months - **25-50 people**: 24-48 months - **50-100 people**: 36-60 months Trying to go faster usually creates problems. ## Signs You're Growing Healthily Good indicators: - Retention stays strong - Culture stays intact - Client work quality maintained - Profitability per person stable/improving - People excited about future - Glassdoor reviews positive - Referrals keep coming ## Signs You're Growing Too Fast Warning signs: - Quality dropping - Burnout spreading - Politics emerging - Culture degrading - Profitability falling - High turnover - Chaotic rather than creative ## The Growth Decision Not every agency should or wants to grow large. **Questions to ask:** - Why do we want to grow? - What's the right size for us? - Can we maintain quality and culture? - Do we have/can we get the capabilities? - Is this what founders actually want? **Some of the best agencies stay deliberately small**. ## Getting It Right Agencies that scale well: - Grow deliberately not accidentally - Invest in people infrastructure - Protect culture actively - Develop leaders intentionally - Stay close to their purpose - Learn from mistakes - Get help when needed **Planning to grow?** [Let's talk](/contact) about building the people infrastructure to support your growth.