When growth is faster than communication
The tipping point
Growth feels like progress. More people, more customers, more opportunities. But growth also changes the dynamics of an organization. What came naturally in the beginning – short lines of communication, switching quickly, sensing together what is needed – becomes more complicated as the company grows.
You see this, for example, in a construction engineering company that grew from one location to three in two years. Sales grew, the team grew, but under the surface it began to fray. The organization grew faster than the alignment. And you often don’t notice that right away – while in the meantime it is already costing you time, energy and focus.
This article is about that tipping point: the moment when growth demands something other than working harder.
Recognizable paradox
Many entrepreneurs recognize this issue with a company size from 15 to 40 employees. This is the stage where you no longer see or hear everything yourself, but where formal structures are not yet fully in place. This is precisely where a recognizable paradox arises: the better your people are, the greater the risk of noise. Strong professionals are used to operating and making decisions independently. In a small organization, that’s your strength. In a larger organization, it means that ten smart people each follow their own version of “logical. Not because they want to go the wrong way, but because no one has made explicit what the same way is. Growth then begins to chafe, while everyone is trying their best.
When communication loses context
Once organizations enter this phase, communication changes almost automatically. Less direct, more often through mail, consultations and layers. And remarkably, the problem is rarely that too little is communicated. The problem is that communication is too inconsistent. Direction is worded slightly differently each time, adapted to the situation, pressure or interlocutor. As a result, employees do not hear an unclear story, but multiple variations of the same story. And hardly anyone says, “Wait a minute, what exactly do we mean?” Confusion arises without anyone meaning to. Communication loses its connecting function and becomes sending instead of explaining.
– Peter van Geel
Culture shifts unnoticed
When communication connects less, culture shifts with it. Not in big steps, but in small daily choices. Teams develop their own ways of working. What was once taken for granted becomes localized. New employees do what seems logical, existing employees adapt. Thus, culture always develops – even if you don’t pay attention to it. And that’s exactly the point: culture is already there, but not necessarily the culture appropriate to this stage. What brought an organization to 20 employees – improvisation, speed, entrepreneurship – can actually get in the way later. That shift feels uncomfortable because it requires letting go of what was successful.
The cost of doing nothing
Many business owners recognize these signs but put them off – often because the business “just runs. But inaction has a hidden cost. The energy that leaks away goes not to doing the wrong thing, but to constantly fine-tuning, checking and explaining what should have been clear already. Teams waste their time not on useless meetings, but on constantly reinventing context. And you don’t see that, precisely because everyone is busy and doing their best. Meanwhile, decisions become slower, frustrations grow, and sooner or later internal noise becomes externally visible. What starts small becomes intractable if you let it lie.
Direction requires rhythm
The solution is rarely in reorganization. Often it is in restoring cohesion. At the construction engineering company, the decision was made to have set times when teams came together. Not just to share decisions, but especially to explain them. Why are we making this choice? What are we working toward? By answering those questions over and over again, commitment returned. Not by steering harder, but by being clearer. Rhythm proved more important than control. Direction became something shared again. And you see this more often: once direction, communication and behavior are linked, peace and focus are created.
What you can do concretely
You don’t have to tackle this in a big or complicated way. Start small. Plan one moment, separate from the day-to-day operation. No agenda, no KPIs. Ask yourself – or together with your MT – these questions:
- What do we think we are working toward? And would our teams articulate the same thing?
- Where do we see smart people each making their own “logical” choices?
- Where are we mostly explaining and tuning out, rather than moving forward?
The goal is not to come up with immediate solutions. The goal is to make patterns visible. That insight alone changes how you look – and where you adjust.
In conclusion
Growth rarely fails because of bad people or wrong intentions. It fails because good people are given too much space without a shared framework. When growth is faster than communication, there are no big mistakes but many small misunderstandings. And those very things cost energy.
By making direction explicit, communicating consistently and establishing rhythm, growth remains something people do together – rather than alongside each other.
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