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I’ve been sitting on this bit o’ news for about a week now. We just hired two new people — Molly and Steve. Rather than me telling you about them, I thought I’d let you hear from them in their own words, so tomorrow I’ll be posting two “interview style” entries with each of them.

What does this mean for us?

Fast growth
Including Scott, who started December 4th, we’ve had 60% increase in one month’s time and 100% increase in six months (Micah came on board early Summer). Whoa. This growth is both exciting and a bit scary: exciting because we brought some really amazing people into our circle; exciting because of the strategic initiatives that these new hires represent; and scary because change, as much as we enjoy it, can be hard to walk through.

A Transition Period
Our company is in yet another transition period. We’ve recognized that the kind of impact that we want to have means we need to be doing more. Projects. We’ve also recognized that in order to do this work well, we need to progressively do more and more of the work ourselves. Both of these insights translate to a larger organization (we anticipate that we’ll hit 13-15 people within two years) which, if not managed well, could damper the team spirited, “cooked in small batches” ethos so vital to our creativity and the enjoyment of our work. We’ve enjoyed the easy-going, friendship comraderie that has epitomized our group. And that spirit, that sense of fun and ease and shared passion and vision has opened doors for us that wouldn’t otherwise have opened. This transition period—going from 5 to 8—will be a good test for us: we’ll figure out what works and doesn’t work in our effort to integrate growth into a team-based, relational culture.

Leaps of Faith
For about six months, we’ve toyed with adding another core value to our current five. It reads, “what’s brought us where we are today can’t take us where we’re going tomorrow.” Coming into this season of changes, I’m more convinced than ever that this value is inherently a part of our DNA. This isn’t to say we don’t ever look backward. Reflection on the journey requires looking backward as well as forward. But it does mean that we will often jump out into new territory. And each jump, no matter how strategic, no matter how analysis-based and reasoned, feels like a leap of faith because the truth is that the leap doesn’t and can’t predict exactly where we’ll land and what we’ll look like when we get there. What will carry the day for us will be our acrobatic flexibility, the strength of our mission, vision and values, the unique strengths each person brings to the table and the depth of care we have for each other.

Stronger Structures
Growing bigger also translates to becoming more streamlined and productive. Topics these days have been about systems–communications, data management, process management, etc.—all of which seemed less necessary when we were four and five. Thank God our first hire was Scott, who is helping us figure out how to execute these systems.

My Two Big Fears
Growing too fast too soon. We’ve done this before, so we know what it looks like and what its like to “downsize.” It’s painful. But, we’re a different company now. We know who we are and what we’re here to do and we know a lot more about how to do it and, perhaps more importantly, how not to do it. The interim time between our last downsize and now has been deeply fruitful. We have a solid foundation and that gives me much confidence and hope.

Getting too “corporate-ish”. This is probably my greater fear. The structures we’re talking about seem to be rife with “corporate-speak” which always gives me the heebie-jeebies. What I’ve so loved about LJUrban is the freshness and the “differentness” that we approach everything with. I desperately don’t want to lose that in our effort toward greater efficiency and productivity. Even saying words like “efficiency” and “productivity” at some level makes me cringe because they sound so… well… industrial-age… like machinery and assembly lines. LJUrban is an organization, one that I like to think of as a “living” organization of its own kind. In my mind, we’re more tree-ish than machine-ish. That said, trees that aren’t healthy could certainly be described as suffering from inefficiencies and unproductivity. I’ve heard that kind of language straight from the mouth of a tree farmer in my recent reading of Masumoto’s “Epitaph of a Peach.” I think the answer to this fear comes in the form of deep listening: to one another, to ourselves, to our instincts. We know who we are, so, if we’re listening, we should know if we veer to far from our identity.

I just now realized that today marks my own 2-year anniversary… what a fun and wild ride its been. Work has never been more like play…

Jason

1/09/06 Update: those ubiquitous “technical difficulties” have prevented me from posting about Steve and Molly today… hoping to have things resolved tomorrow.