What are the biggest challenges in growing and scaling a team? What were your biggest obstacles and how did you overcome them?

I think one of the key issues with growing and scaling a team is losing track of what makes a great team. This starts with creating a culture of empowerment, safety, openness, kindness, and of course collaboration! Once you have some of your 'culture fundamentals' figured out you can use these to ensure any new hires align well to those fundamentals. Poor hires (or poor 'fits') end up breaking the ability to scale up and get the most out of your team as there will be issues that slow you down. M ...Read More

The biggest challenge for me is scaling my management style as the team has grown. It’s not easy! I want to be a manager who’s responsive to the needs of my direct reports, wherever they are on their career journey. More-tenured people need a sounding board, and reassurance in their plans, whereas less-tenured people might crave more instruction. I love balancing that and helping them set the groundwork for the next stage of their careers. For managers that also means that the bigger your team g ...Read More

Change Management: As you grow the team, you will have to restructure and assign new responsibilities to individuals. This can be tough when you are going from a do-it-all mindset to functional expertise. While making such a change, it could feel like you are taking away the responsibilities from individuals. It is important that you are able to articulate the reasons and define a growth path for all roles as you make the change. Additionally, change management requires communication with stakeh ...Read More

The hardest part in growth and scale is the balance between process, oversight and autonomy. A 5 person team is well aligned, you know what everyone is working on, and easily collaborate on projects. A 20 person team, not as easy. The first step once you get past a team of 7 is to start thinking about team structure and leadership structure. The team I get to serve has 6 pillars: messaging & positioning, partner marketing, customer marketing, product evangelism, market intelligence, activati ...Read More

The biggest challenge is that as the team changes, the business also changes. Our product strategy might pivot, our cross-functional ways of working could be reset, etc. These are "uncontrollables"—things that PMM might have influence over, but don't ultimately own. Regardless, we must adapt. In these situations, as in my personal life, I remember that the only thing that is constant is change. Instead of trying to resist and hide from it, I reframe it as an opportunity to challenge my assumptio ...Read More