Scaling up phase of an organisation is different and leaders during this phase need to have and demonstrate a different set of leadership traits in comparison to any other phase of the organization life cycle. Following leadership traits are necessary according to me in the scale-up phase :
- Growth mindset: not be deterred when exploring unchartered territories and take calculated risks.
- Ability to Communicate the vision and strategy to the team till the last person on the team starts to fully understand them.
- Strong ability to drive culture change necessary to support the execution of the new growth strategy.
- Willingness and courage to deviate from the past to develop and put in place the new growth strategy.
- Capability to galvanise a team. Set stretched but realistic goals for the teams and make the team own them.
- Ability to create a strong alignment between vision, strategy, organisation goals, individual goals and organizational culture.
- Ability to build strong review mechanisms at all levels. Willingness to make course corrections if strategy not producing the desired outcomes/results.
Scaling up the organization requires a very different leadership mindset and skillset in comparison to the startup phase. Are you ready ?
-Avinash Bhandari