This week, I will celebrate my one-year anniversary with WhatCounts, and it has been a very exciting year!  The company has doubled in size, the platform has matured, the customer base is now considerably larger, many people have been promoted, and our August 2006 sales will be roughly seven times our August 2005 sales (hence my lack of blog postings lately).

There have been a couple of occasions during my career where I have had the opportunity to watch a team grow this rapidly.  (Unfortunately, I have also seen the inverse a few times...I know a lot more about the different types of corporate bankruptcies than I ever wanted to!)  Growth is an inspiring challenge, and preservation of culture seems to be the cornerstone of building a bigger company.  How do you ensure that the value system, efficiency and relationships of your larger team will be as rewarding as they were when you were smaller?  How do you know that the dog that you were once taking for a walk isn't suddenly so huge that he begins dragging you around by his leash?

I think the key lies in improved intra-company communication.  That knowledge that once lived inside of your coworker's "time-telling" head must quickly become a public "clock" by which others can tell time.  Those best practices that each team leader could perform must be successfully replicated by the rest of his/her team.  The success measurements and red flag mechanisms that were built for one team must now be known by every other team.  Those stakes that were once low enough for anyone's buy-in must now be consistently raised quarter by quarter.

Dramatic growth isn't for everyone.  Some people grow fond of their comfort zone, and there is nothing wrong with that.  However, comfort zone dwellers simply cannot survive in competitive industries.  Even well-differentiated companies are in a road race with other companies, and the cruise-control button is the enemy of success.  As a lead-footed individual, I am happy to be a part of our speedy WhatCounts organization.