Growing headcounts for the right reasons is essential to help current team members avoid burnout and generate more impact. Unfortunately, some don't critically evaluate whether they need more heads and grow their orgs for the wrong reasons — but more often than not, that won't lead to long-term success.
Step 1: Evaluate & focus your team's scope
Like gardening, you need to "prune a plant to encourage new healthier growth." Sometimes the reason you think you need more HC is that your team's scope is incoherent, or you work on too many fronts.
The hardest part is the internal conversation. When I started leading Facebook's Video Search, the team was primary owner of 2-3 other areas. I had to align internally that Video Search was most critical, and other areas, while important, were less promising. I had to show an engineering manager that there were still tons of growth opportunities within a narrower area. Once you align on scope internally, it's usually easy to align with leadership.
Step 2: Align on what success means
So many people skip this step. Align on success in the most specific way: "within two years, we get 40% of the market as measured by XYZ" or "we solve 90% of integrity issues without human intervention in 12 months." Setting ambitious, exciting & meaningful success criteria is critical.
Step 3: Map out gaps — they might be bridgeable without additional HC
Make a high-level plan and identify critical gaps. Brainstorm how to do more with current resources:
- Is our team working efficiently? Maybe we're just unproductive or underutilized?
- Do we have the right talent profile? You may have the right headcount but lack a specific skill.
- Are some gaps solvable by leveraging resources within the company or buying externally?
If everything is optimized, you're ready to ask for more headcounts.