Who This Article Is For
- Owners noticing weaker cohesion as employee numbers grow
- Managers facing coordination problems and delayed information sharing
- Leaders anticipating changes before expansion
Use Dunbar’s Number as a Prompt to Redesign Communication as a Company Grows
Explore changes in connection around growing team sizes, why 150 is a guide rather than a fixed limit, and how shared values and smaller units support cohesion.
Published
Redesign Teams and Information Sharing as Headcount Grows to Preserve Connection
Growth can reduce closeness and unity. The issue extends beyond an owner's personal appeal to limits in maintaining stable relationships. Dunbar's number provides a familiar perspective on those limits.
Around 150 people, naturally remembering everyone's face and role can become burdensome. If a growing company coordinates less effectively, organizational design needs review beyond demands for greater effort.
What Is Dunbar's Number?
The idea concerns limits on the number of stable relationships people can maintain. Applied to companies, increasing numbers weaken natural connections and make early informal methods less sufficient.
Visible changes include:
- More unfamiliar names and faces
- Less clarity about who does what
- Information no longer spreading naturally
- Stronger departmental identities
Headcount signals growth while also increasing management complexity.
Changes Around 150 People
The number is not an absolute boundary. It is a familiar reference for the difficulty of maintaining one close group. Early-stage habits become less sufficient as size increases.
Possible changes include:
- Messages no longer reach everyone with the same intensity
- Departments develop different perspectives
- Informal coordination becomes insufficient
- The owner's direct visibility narrows
Unchanged methods can allow internal gaps to widen.
Common Reasons Cohesion Weakens
Excessive Dependence on Unspoken Understanding
A small group can share meaning without detailed explanations. Growth weakens that assumption, leaving information with only the people already familiar with it.
Problems include:
- Different interpretations of policy
- Different departmental priorities
- Uncertainty about whom to ask
- More omissions in communication
Larger companies need more explicit sharing.
Management Work Expands by Itself
Checks and approvals grow with headcount. Coordination systems can become so numerous that administration overshadows work.
Common additions include:
- Meetings
- Reports
- Approvals
- Rules
Necessary structure matters, but excessive accumulation slows the company.
Belonging Shifts Toward the Department
People identify with nearby groups. Stronger departmental unity can coexist with weaker company-wide connection.
Signs include:
- Departmental convenience takes priority
- Limited understanding of other departments
- Differences in commitment between groups
- Company-wide topics feel distant
Departmental cohesion needs a connection to the whole to avoid fragmentation.
Responses to the 150-Person Challenge
Organize Through Smaller Units
Trying to hold everyone as one close group creates strain. Build manageable units.
Consider:
- Team size
- Division of authority
- Assignment of responsibility
- Proximity of decisions to the work
A larger company can operate through connected smaller groups.
Put Culture Into Words
The owner's example and daily conversations can carry values initially. Growth requires expressing them explicitly.
Clarify:
- Decision criteria
- Behavioral standards
- Approaches to customers
- What the company protects
Explicit language becomes more important as headcount rises.
See Mission, Vision, and Values and Creating Behavioral Standards for separating company purpose from everyday judgment criteria.
Create Cross-Department Connections
Do not leave contact entirely to chance.
| Item | Approach |
|---|---|
| Company-wide sharing | Communicate policy and results in common language |
| Cross-functional projects | Increase work across departments |
| Everyday contact | Provide informal conversation and exchange |
| Movement of people | Build understanding across departments |
Company-wide unity needs deliberate support.
The Perspective Also Matters to Small Companies
Changes Can Appear Around 15 People
Smaller groups also change. In the teens, maintaining identical understanding among everyone becomes harder.
Watch for:
- Gaps between founding and newer members
- Uneven information
- Unclear roles
- Slower decisions
Notice changes early even in a small company.
Around 50 People, Another Barrier Becomes Visible
Maintaining direct closeness with everyone grows harder. The owner's words may no longer reach everyone equally.
Review:
- Meetings
- Information sharing
- Managers' roles
- Team structure
Delaying review increases later expansion burdens.
Design Before Growth
Consider the organization before problems arrive.
Decide:
- When to divide teams
- Whom to give authority
- What language to share
- How to connect the whole company
Growth requires organizational design alongside hiring.
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About the Author
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Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Is the number always exactly 150?
A: No. It is a widely discussed guide to the difficulty of maintaining close relationships, rather than a precise universal cutoff.
Q: Does cohesion disappear beyond 150?
A: Not necessarily. It becomes harder to maintain with unchanged small-company methods, so the design needs to evolve.
Q: Does this concern smaller companies?
A: Yes. Communication can change around 15 or 50 people too. The perspective extends beyond 150 alone.
Q: What helps preserve unity?
A: Manageable groups, shared values, and connections across departments. Create them deliberately as size increases.
