Smaller Team… Bigger Impact

Given the choice between a large team or a small team, I’d take a small team any day. In my career, it’s the small teams where I’ve accomplished more, had less HR drama and made more impact on the business. There’s truth to the adage ‘you should be able to feed your team with two large pizzas’. Here’s why I prefer small teams:

1. No Bureaucracy: with a small team everyone has to actually do stuff. Everyone on the team has shovels and is at the coalface. There’s no need for a layer of management to manage other managers who ‘oversee’ the actual work.

2. Less Space Required: there’s a certain beauty about getting the entire team together in one conference room.

3. Streamlined Communication: with everyone in one room, there’s no excuse for being out of the loop. Vision and goals are communicated seamlessly. Nothing is secondhand when you can look into each other’s eyes.

4. Good Ideas Bubble Up: with small teams, the best ideas bubble up quickly. When the summer intern sits at the same lunch table as the head of the team, everyone gets heard and good ideas get the proper exposure.

5. Transparency: everyone knows what everyone else is doing.

6. Less Gossip: When the team is small, we already know each other’s shit. There’s nothing to gossip about.

7. Slackers Get Caught Out: in small teams, we all rely on each other. The team member who slacks off is quickly called out. You can’t hide.

8. Short Meetings: what a blessing! You don’t have the endless game of stakeholder management. Meetings can be short and sweet.

If I have to tackle a business problem, I’ll take a small team of highly competent individuals over a large team any day. I’ve found that less experienced managers often want to grow their teams. The number of team members is somehow an indication of their seniority or level of responsibility. Not true. I would argue that more can be accomplished with a small team and that the experienced executive should always be asking, ‘Can I do this with fewer people?’ Next time you’re asked to grow your team, figure out if you could pass this responsibility over to an existing team member and stay lean. Two large pizzas, please!