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I went to pick up some material a few weeks ago from Jane (I've changed the identity), who was one of our early employees, and found a person completely down and devoid of life. She handed me some papers and a Zip promotional sweatshirt in a manner that reminded me of a zombie. This was especially disturbing because Jane usually was one of the most energetic "can do" people in the company and had been a lifesaver when we had just a few people. She was the type of person who did whatever was asked -- exactly the employee any startup needs to get things done in a chaotic and understaffed environment. In fact, Jane had thrived during this time, helping the company pull off a few major events and get some great press.

I went back to my desk and started asking myself what had happened. How had one of the great lights of the company dimmed so much in just two months? After a few minutes, I went back and asked Jane if she was open for lunch, on the company's dime. She accepted, and we headed off to a local burrito place near our office.

Once there, Jane confided that things weren't the same as they used to be. In the early days, she sat next to me and was involved in making decisions about all facets of company life. But since the New Year, we'd gone on a huge hiring binge, more than doubling the size of the company to 80 people, leaving Jane feeling like a tiny cog in the big machine. She quickly realized that her role had changed dramatically, and her influence on some of the larger company decisions had decreased.

Even though the company had spent time educating team members on the effects of growth and what might happen, the actual reality of this new company was difficult to accept. Not surprisingly, Jane's morale suffered. She wondered out loud to me if she was still valuable to the success of the company.

Wow! What a bombshell.

I talked with her a bit and explained that I felt she was important. But I knew this wasn't enough. I wanted to get the new VP of her department involved, because he would have to provide the guidance during this tough transition.

The VP and another manager who had "change-management" experience said this was symptomatic of lack of a formal communication strategy. I said "communication what?" This was a field to which I hadn't had any exposure (the Navy was not big on this type of issue) but appeared to be really important now. In fact, once I started talking with other department heads and observed other early employees in the office, I realized this was a trend that wasn't going away. The incident with Jane was being repeated over and over in various forms throughout all the departments, as most of the original team members came to realize how the company had changed.

That did it. With the company scheduled to double again in the next three months, we felt this would be a problem easier solved now than when we have 200 people. Maybe a little effort would go a long way later. Besides, something had to be done about Jane. She was way too valuable to let her stay unhappy.

After a couple days of top management meetings, we decided to hire a communication specialist and create a communications plan.

I've found the primary challenge to growing a company comes not in hiring people, but in getting your company working as one team after the hires have reported. People have to adjust to the fact that new people are coming in to solve lingering problems and to raise the level of performance. This sharpening of roles can feel like a demotion for the early members of the team, who have been used to a broad base of influence. The trick is to keep these people informed about their new roles and their importance, while also keeping everyone informed on all the new activity in the company.

This project is already well under way. Everyone in the company has since been surveyed about their feelings concerning the company, culture, and communications, and the team is learning a lot about our still-fledgling organization. Early returns have been positive, with people openly commenting that they're happy we're trying to do something about internal communications.

As for Jane, she's back on track. The last time I went to pick up a rain jacket for one of our board members, Jane was giving me a hard time and joking around about my excessive use of promo clothes, before she handed over a gift-wrapped jacket. That's the Jane I know and love.

She told me she and her new boss went out to lunch a couple days after our lunch and had a good conversation. She now knew that everyone still counted on her in the department and that she was definitely one of the company's bright lights. All's well that ends well for that part of the story. But it'll be a few months before we see the long-term effects of our communications plan on everyone else. Stay tuned.