Introducing more processes as startups scale is a common challenge these organizations face. A lack of process and failure to mature is often given as a reason young businesses do not reach their full potential. Throughout my career, I’ve been privileged to see this in action a few times, giving me a strong sense of what works and what mistakes to avoid. I’ve made these process changes in several areas, but the most common area for change is HR. Once startups change from a small, close group of founding members, many things need to be formalized, such as recruitment, career development, training and quarterly reviews. Following these four principles can help organizations more smoothly and efficiently introduce necessary new processes.

Stick To It

In one of my first experiences of this, it was pretty clear that there was limited commitment from the leadership team to implement any new process at all. Attempts to introduce simple, unifying processes were not done consistently. How someone reported lateness or took sick days was still being handled based on how well-liked the individual was and not in line with the new process. Not sticking to processes for something so simple meant that these processes were destined to fail. Without aligning the basics, maturing even further to something like a review process, was impossible. In my opinion, there is no right and wrong way to set your organization up but whatever that process is, it must have buy-in.

Don’t Do It Too Soon

Having seen how hard it was to make a change, when founding my own business I spent a lot of time at the start building processes that would be applicable once we were bigger. It made sense that having something ready from the start would make adoption seamless as the company grew. While it was much simpler to do than building it later, we had processes we didn’t need. Employees wanted us to stick to “the rules” and deliver on the HR structure we had promised them. But we wanted to be more flexible. As we grew, the original processes had to be updated and a lot of the time spent early on was time that could have been spent growing the business instead.

Overcommunicate

I’ve seen new processes introduced a few times since then and one constant is that employees tend to view anything new with suspicion. Their concerns are often that these changes will lead to stricter management or penalties, even when the goal has been the direct opposite. It isn’t possible to communicate the intention and the changes too much. Conference calls, team meetings and one-to-ones all help make the introduction of a new process much smoother.

Getting the management team on board at this stage is also critical to success. Often, it is the managers who will be rolling out these processes and if they understand the benefits well enough to communicate them, that will help. They also need to follow the processes enthusiastically and not treat them as something they are being forced to do. Gaining their buy-in as the first step will help set you up for success as the rest of the business makes the change.

Make It Reasonable

Growing up doesn’t mean you have to jump from being a toddler to an adult. Whatever processes are being introduced still need to be proportionate and flexible for the business you are in today and will be in for the next one to two years, depending on your pace of growth. Emulating very large companies when you are still small isn’t likely to be proportionate. Having someone with experience in a similar size organization can help here. And leave room for some flexibility. If employees raise reasonable challenges, there should still be some room to make alterations if it will ensure smoother adoption.

Introducing change is always going to come with challenges. Anticipating and mitigating some common areas of challenge can make that change smoother, and adoption quicker.