Adapting to a Growing company
One of the biggest adjustments that I have noticed for many of the more senior people at AlphaSights is the rapid pace that the company is growing at. Eight years ago, the New York office had 5 or 6 employees in it, today (interns included) there are over 250. In the last year alone, the office has gone through a change in location to a new office more than double the size, and almost 100 new employees. As a result, the leaders of the company have needed to adjust their styles and the way that they interact with their employees.
For example, this week I had a one-on-one meeting with the Vice President of the company who oversees my division, Capital Markets. Apart from an early introdution and some awkward waves, this was my first actual interaction with him, so I was very excited.
Overall, I was very impressed with how much he knew about me. Without any notes, he knew my name, home town, school, majors, and some of my campus involvements. He noted that this was the first summer when he did not personally interview all of the interns on his team and did not sit in the same desk pod as all of them due to the increased size of the team. For this reason, he felt that it was important to meet with all of us in order to get to know us better. While I find this admirable and I recognize the importance of a leader having a relationship with his followers, I think there has to be s a better way to go about it. In total, the VP spent 6 hours this week meeting with interns, that is a significant amount of time away from the desk. Additionally, AlphaSights is a growth company, so in the future this is not a sustainable plan.
Over the last few weeks I have given thought to different ways that people can adjust their leadership styles in a growing company. I am still struggling to find a person/opportunity to share my ideas with (I’ve been making a list since week 1), I guess I have to be more proactive with this.
Sounds as though, despite it perhaps not being the most efficient method, the VP is committed to staying connected to employees in the organization. Will be interested to learn more, as you continue, about the structure of the office/organization, how directed (or not) work is, whether those in informal positions have the chance to exhibit/employ leadership. Sounds as though there is interest/concern for developing and maintaining trust, based on the interest in knowing employees (including interns). As for sharing your insights, I hope that you do find that there are some at the organization that you can share with, though it may be more tactical to share observations about styles and then talk about other approaches/styles that could also be useful (versus an approach where you discuss individuals and how they may alter their style).