Reflection #3: SimpsonScarborough’s Leadership
As I’ve mentioned in my previous posts, Simpson Scarborough is a very small, tight-knit company. This means that even the employees at the lowest end of the totem pole (i.e. interns J) have access to the company’s leadership. Personally, I have been in several meetings with the CEO and company partners. Because of this access and close relationship, employees at the company feel as though their personal contributions directly affect the direction of the company. This is not just a feeling; it’s fact. The leadership of the company puts a lot of faith and trust in its employees, trusting in their competence and ability to build strong, professional relationships with clients. Not only is the company close professionally, they are also close outside of work. The leadership of the company is incredibly friendly with everyone else in the company, chatting about each other’s’ lives over food and drinks. While this kind of closeness could potentially be dangerous – there’s a fine line between being friends with your employees and being too friendly with them and losing your sense of authority – I think the partners at Simpson Scarborough tread this precarious line expertly. They make the employees feel valued and involved in the inner-workings of the company, while still maintaining an air of authority. This combination of high professional expectations (due to the high amount of responsibility placed on each employee) and the friendliness of the partners serves as the perfect motivation for employees to do their best work.
As the company gets bigger, I am interested to see how the leadership of the company changes. With more and more people being hired, it will get much harder to maintain these close relationships with employees. I imagine that contact with the leadership of the company will become scarcer. However, as long as there is some kind of consistent contact with the higher-ups in the company (like a weekly newsletter or email or the like), that close personal relationship, while weaker, will remain an important part of the structure of the company.
Sounds like the leadership at Simpson Scarborough has struck a balance between task and relationship. I think your query – about how this balance may be tested as the organization grows – is an astute and interesting element for you to keep your eye on. Will be interesting to see if there is discussion within the organization – with the employees – about how to maintain the balance. Given the environment you’ve described, where all employees input and insights are valued, I would expect the leadership to engage them in discussion about this matter. It’s interesting that you noted that the senior leadership works from home (in an earlier post); seems that may be more challenging as well as the organization grows?