One of the biggest blind spots in growing a business is treating your team like a fixed puzzle—filling the open spaces and expecting nothing to shift. But people aren’t puzzle pieces. They’re living, evolving, and looking for momentum.
In fact, the movement in your business might be what attracted them in the first place. Small businesses often carry the allure of opportunity—the promise of carving out a meaningful role, growing alongside the company, and creating something bigger than what was there before.
But when you grow your business without keeping your existing team in the loop, you risk fueling silent narratives that will eventually show up as disengagement, frustration, or even turnover.
- “If they hire this person, I’ll never get promoted.”
- “This new role takes away the parts of the job I was hoping to do next.”
- “They’re expanding without even considering me.”
These are the kinds of thoughts that fill the space when you aren’t being transparent. And they’re rarely true. But if you don’t tell your team the real story, they’ll fill in the gaps themselves—and you’ll find yourself defending a narrative you never intended to create.
The Conversation Comes First
Before you ever post a job, bring your team into the conversation. Be honest about where the business is going, what roles you’re exploring, and how that growth might impact them. It doesn’t have to be fully baked—but it does have to be open.
And before you commit to hiring externally, scour your team first.
Who’s showing up?
Who’s ready for more?
Who’s been quietly building the skills you need next?
If no one is ready, say that too—but make sure you can articulate why.
Great performance in one role doesn’t automatically qualify someone for the next.
You still need clear role definitions. You still need to articulate the skills required. Just because someone’s been loyal or successful in one role doesn’t mean they’re the best fit for what comes next. But if you explain that clearly, you’ll keep trust intact—and you’ll give them the chance to grow into it if they’re truly interested.
Growth Doesn’t Always Mean a Promotion
If the next role isn’t the right fit, don’t leave your team starving for recognition. Growth doesn’t have to mean climbing a ladder. You can build momentum right where they are:
- Recognize high performance with streaks or milestones.
- Celebrate efficiency, consistency, and reliability.
- Offer pay raises or a “senior” title within their current role.
Some of your best employees don’t want the next role. They want to feel valued for what they already do exceptionally well.
When Cross-Promotion Works
But sometimes, someone does want to stretch into something new. Maybe your finance manager wants to move into operations. Or your assistant wants to take on project management.
You don’t have to say yes today. But you can point them toward what it would take. Invite them to shadow, take courses, or practice new skills. And if they come back showing you they’re ready? That’s the dream. You get to cross-promote someone you already trust—while giving them the satisfaction of truly earning their next role.
Always Feed Your Team First
Before you go out searching for the next perfect candidate, make sure you’ve taken care of the people already building with you. Let them in on the plan. Help them see where they fit. And if they don’t? Celebrate them anyway. You’ll keep the trust, the culture, and the momentum alive.
Because when your people feel like they’re part of the story, they’ll want to help you write the next chapter.
And if you want help writing that next chapter—whether you’re defining new roles, reworking your org chart, or figuring out how to move people without breaking momentum—the Align Your Business program was built for this.
If you’re still building your team, Hiring, Simplified will help you get clear on who you need before you start searching. Together, they’ll help you build a team that grows with you—not against you.
Because when your people win, your business does too.
About the Author
Lauren Michele Fields led teams in sales and marketing, managed P&L, and opened new markets before she ever wrote a playbook. Then she did that too—sales processes, hiring frameworks, onboarding systems, leadership development, people operations, new product development, and training programs across every function of a growing company. Not as an HR professional. As the operator who needed it to scale.
She built The Modern Small Business Platform because the tools she used in corporate don’t exist at small business scale—and they should. Hiring, Simplified and Align Your Business are the systems she wishes someone had handed her earlier.
She writes about hiring, leadership, and what it actually takes for a business to thrive at laurenmichelefields.com/blog.
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