The Invisible Rules

Growth changes an organization in ways that are easy to see. There are more employees, customers, products, locations, meetings, and layers of responsibility. What is less visible is another consequence of growth that may matter even more: people become increasingly dependent on one another to get anything done.

A decision in marketing affects sales. A sales commitment creates implications for operations. An operational decision affects finance. Technology crosses virtually every functional boundary. Decisions that once belonged comfortably to one person or department increasingly have consequences elsewhere in the organization.

Yet while the organization changes, the assumptions governing how people work together often don’t change with it. People are still expected to know when to act independently, when to keep someone informed, when to seek input, and when a decision requires broader alignment.

For a while, informal agreements and strong relationships can compensate for the ambiguity. Eventually, however, growth exposes what had previously been hidden. Click here for the complete article: https://ceoworld.biz/2026/09/27/the-invisible-rules/