Leland Sandler of the Sandler Group explains how to achieve business success in a high velocity environment managing people “up the curve”. Follow Leland: WEBSITE: http://lelandsandler.com/ THE SANDLER GROUP: http://sandlergroup.net/ TWITTER: https://twitter.com/lelandsandler FACEBOOK: http://facebook.com/thesandlergroup

1. Managing People “Up the Curve”
in a High Velocity Environment
Selection, Management and Intervention Determine
Success or Failure of People and the Business
Leland Sandler
Managing Partner
The Sandler Group LLC

2. The High Velocity Environment
 High revenue growth
 High business expansion / acquisitions / mergers
 Turn-around
 Extraordinary commitment to improve
 One could argue--
– Goal should never be to remain small
• Someone will eliminate you
– Goal should never be to reach maturity
• Reinvent
• Commit to change or lose in the end
– Goal should be to stay on the High Velocity curve

3. The High Velocity Problem
• Generally, people fail to modify their behavior
at a rate rapid enough to meet the demands
and dynamic change of a High Velocity
business
• High Velocity business success and managing
people “up the curve”
– Understand required behaviors and skills
– Select the right people
– Recognize need for intervention
– Intervene quickly and effectively

4. The High Velocity Model
Revenue/
Scale/
Complexity
Time
Small Business
High Velocity Business
Mature Business
SK: Skill Capacity
SC: Ability to Manage Scale/Complexity
Δ : Ability to Manage Change
SK:↑ SC:↑ Δ:↓
SK:↑ SC:↑ Δ:↑
SK:↓ SC:↓ Δ:↓

5. Small Business Career Experience
• Small Business
– low scale
– low growth
– low change
• Low experience to manage scale and complexity
• Low skill capacity
• Low experience anticipating and managing change
• Executives from Small Business will generally lack
skills for High Velocity
– Must develop skills, and change skills, simultaneously
– Low probability of success
– Better to be in Mature Business to develop skills first

6. Mature Business Career Experience
• Mature Business
– high scale
– low growth
– low change
• High experience/skill to manage scale and complexity
– More complex than Small Business
– Know what the “answer” looks like
• High skill capacity—big companies train and develop more!
• Low experience managing change without resources
• Executives from Mature Business will have strong, but
potentially narrow, skills to adapt to High Velocity
– Care must be exercised
– Specific assignment to avoid the Small Business weakness
– Changing management skills are the priority—Focus on behavior!

7. Requirements for High Velocity Business
• High Velocity Business
– Increasing scale
– High growth
– High change
• Executive requirements
– High skill capacity (successfully manage different priorities at a
high level simultaneously)
– Strong capability to manage scale and complexity
– High desire and capacity to manage change
• Most demanding environment
– Focus on those with high skill capacity
– Pay attention to prior work environment and Small Business
experiences
– Assess flexibility, dynamic response, anticipatory skills

8. Going Horizontal
Revenue/
Scale/
Complexity
Time
Small Business
High Velocity Business
Mature Business
SK: Skill Capacity
SC: Ability to Manage Scale/Complexity
Δ : Ability to Manage Change
SK:↑ SC:↑ Δ:↓
SK:↑ SC:↑ Δ:↑
SK:↓ SC:↓ Δ:↓
Going Horizontal!

9. Going Horizontal—The Management
Opportunity
• “Going Horizontal” (H)
– Failure to stay on the curve—SK, SC, Δ
– The further one goes off the curve, the harder to return!
• Management role in H
– Identify horizontal behavior and intervene
– Pay attention to the difference between skills and behavioral
coaching
– Late and ineffective intervention is H behavior in itself
• Required behavior—avoid H experiences
– Give and receive feedback—frequently and aggressively
– Waiting for change and “growing into the role” is a strategy
for failure
– Do not accept H behavior, it undermines the organization

10. Going Horizontal
Revenue/
Scale/
Complexity
Time
Small Business
High Velocity Business
Mature Business
SK: Skill Capacity
SC: Ability to Manage Scale/Complexity
Δ : Ability to Manage Change
SK:↑ SC:↑ Δ:↓
SK:↑ SC:↑ Δ:↑
SK:↓ SC:↓ Δ:↓
Going Horizontal!

11. Selection and Management “Up the Curve”
• Define current and future Company stages
• Place the two points on the curve
• Assess role in current and future stages
– Pay attention to SC, SK and Δ
• Assess executive
– Use Small, Mature and High Velocity Business
definitions
– Place the executive in the context of the
Company and role

12. People Implications
• Do not make the error of domain knowledge
(bias)
• Focus on “transferable skills”
– Analytical approach/skills
– Proven ability to problem solve
– Adaptability to new environments
– Ability to learn
• The ideal candidate has Mature company
development and High Velocity business
experiences

13. Going Horizontal—Intervention
• Coaching the coach
– Feedback to the coach about the coach’s team
– Helping the coach “see it”, the first intervention
– The coach who intervenes habitually late is
horizontal, the second intervention
• Looking in the mirror
– The CEO is the leader in “up the curve”
management
– The daily intervention is managing one’s self up
the curve

14. Going Horizontal
Revenue/
Scale/
Complexity
Time
Small Business
High Velocity Business
Mature Business
SK: Skill Capacity
SC: Ability to Manage Scale/Complexity
Δ : Ability to Manage Change
SK:↑ SC:↑ Δ:↓
SK:↑ SC:↑ Δ:↑
SK:↓ SC:↓ Δ:↓
Going Horizontal!

15. 15
Questions & Comments
Leland Sandler
Managing Partner
The Sandler Group, LLC
858-344-6160
www.sandlergroup.net