Size Changes Things: How Hierarchy Shapes Leadership and Behaviour
As someone who’s worked across organisations of all shapes and sizes, one thing I keep coming back to is this: scale changes things. The bigger you get, the harder it is to hold onto the culture you started with.
We talk a lot about values, purpose, and leadership behaviours. But we don’t always talk honestly about what happens when you go from a small, tight-knit team to a larger, more layered organisation. Especially when hierarchy starts to creep in.
What happens when an organisation grows?
In a small team, people tend to know each other well. Decision-making can be quick. You can feel the culture just by being in the room. Leaders aren’t distant. They’re involved. There’s a shared sense of responsibility.
But as you grow, something shifts. More people means more roles. More roles mean more structure. And structure, if you’re not careful, can start to dilute the very culture you’re trying to build.
Suddenly, decisions take longer. People become protective of their patch. Leaders are less visible. Conversations are more formal. And behaviour starts to follow structure rather than values.
The impact of hierarchy
Hierarchy isn’t always a bad thing. It gives clarity, and at scale, it can stop things from falling apart. But it also shapes how people behave.
When everything has to go up a chain before it moves forward, people stop trusting themselves. Risk-taking disappears. Mistakes get hidden. Middle managers feel squeezed. Culture stops being something you live and starts becoming something you roll out.
You end up with leaders making statements about empowerment, while systems quietly teach people to keep their heads down.
Behaviour follows structure
The way an organisation is set up tells people what’s expected of them. If your structure is top-heavy, people will wait for permission. If communication flows in one direction, people will stop offering ideas.
Culture is built in the day-to-day. Not in strategy documents or values posters. It shows up in how feedback is given. In who gets heard. In what’s rewarded and what’s overlooked.
If your structure doesn’t support your values, your behaviour won’t reflect them.
So what can you do?
If you’re leading in a growing organisation or already working in a big one, culture needs looking after. And that means thinking about how your structure shapes behaviour.
Here are a few things that help:
Be clear about what good leadership looks like in your context. Then model it.
Make sure middle leaders aren’t just message-carriers. Give them space to lead and make decisions.
Create feedback loops that work both ways. People need to feel seen and heard, not just spoken to.
Check that your systems and processes actually support the behaviour you say you value.
Final thoughts
Culture doesn’t grow on its own. And it doesn’t scale by accident. As organisations get bigger, it takes more work to keep things human. That doesn’t mean flat structures or no accountability. It means being intentional about how you lead and what your structure teaches people to do.
Because leadership isn’t just about who’s in charge. It’s about how we shape the space around us.
