For high growth organizations, people and leadership are everything. As an organization grows and each leader’s responsibilities grow, the ability to effectively transition from being a manager, to being a leader, to being a leader of leaders, is what will determine one’s professional growth as well as how effective they are in contributing to the growth of their organization.

The level of leadership needed varies based on the size of the organization and/or each team:

“Small” (teams of 15 or less, with no mid-level management) teams: It is ok for the leader to be doing most of the leading while developing other leaders within and building their outside network so that when the time is right, there is a plan to advance the level of leadership.

“Mid-size” (teams with mid-level management) teams: Management must be progressing as leaders. A growing organization requires consistently ratcheting up the level of leadership in order to have cohesion rather than friction. All have to be signed up for that expectation…….it is all about having a Growth Mindset, which means that a leader who is developing other leaders should be weary of those who are negative or seem to fight growth as if it is an opposing force, rather than an initiative they are responsible for advancing.

“Large” (teams with leaders of leaders, and leaders of mid-level management) teams: The trend continues where a leader’s success hinges even more dramatically on the effectiveness of the leaders they lead. Being a leader of leaders is a different skillset/approach; there is a higher leadership expectation, and much less of a management effort expected in regards to the relationship. Mentorship, Accountability, Teamwork, and giving a higher level of Autonomy are keys to success.

Even at the highest levels, leaders and leaders of leaders have to show up every day ready to learn and become better – especially in high growth organizations. The one constant is that as teams increase in size, the impact of leadership increases exponentially.