Set growth limits
While all the systems were being put into place to create accountability around collaboration, Bajaj realized there is one other thing that can kill it during growth: new people. You may think that a good company culture will indoctrinate new people, but there is a limit. ZS had a year when it grew nearly 50 percent, and upon review, Bajaj realized that it was the company’s weakest effort to date.
“Of course, financially it was a great year, but the more we looked back at it, the more we said, ‘You know, I think our customers gave us a break,” he says.
Thereafter, Bajaj and other senior leaders capped the company’s growth capability for one year, even if it meant turning down projects.
“Internally we feel that we never want to grow more than 25 to 30 percent because that almost breaks our back,” he says. “And, cumulatively in our history, we’ve done about 20 percent per year, and we think we can manage that in a very healthy fashion, but the years that we crossed 30, we could feel the stress in our quality.”
That number was brought about by an understanding of how important it is to mix people experienced with your company’s expectations in with new hires — regardless of the new hire’s industry experience.
“So really there is a healthy mixture of experience and growth that you have to balance because it’s really about growth long term and not about one breakout year where you just hire lots and lots of rookies,” he says. “Even if you hire experienced hires, they are still rookies in our practice areas and the expectation of customers from us.”
You also need to take a close look at your hiring and training processes.
“It all begins with the kind of people you hire and how you train people,” Bajaj says. “So we have this thing called a new employee orientation, so one of the things we do is, rather than simply share the practice areas at the firm and the technology of the firm, we share cultural norms of the firm, as well.”
Those orientation sessions include a class on company culture from one of the company’s founders and each of the firm’s senior partners runs their own three-hour session.
ZS breeds its culture into any new office through representation. Instead of opening an office with one existing manager who hires a new team, Bajaj says you can replicate your culture with strong forces in a new location.
“When we start a new office, rather than just hiring brand-new people only for that location, we’ll feed it,” he says. “Maybe up to one-third of that office with people from existing locations that represent our values and our culture and then recruit — rather than simply recruit 90 to 95 percent and just send one guy or two people.”
How to reach: ZS Associates Inc., (312) 233-4800 or www.zsassociates.com
