Scaling with Workstream Leads: A Model for Distributed Leadership
Salesforce delivery portfolio scaling rapidly across multiple workstreams
▸Problem
Rapid portfolio growth created overlapping initiatives, resource strain, and technical conflicts in shared environments. Without a new structure, the team risked burnout and delivery failures.
▸Constraints
No budget to add management roles, growing interdependencies across projects, and high client expectations for consistent delivery quality. Needed a solution that scaled leadership capacity without inflating cost.
▸Intervention
Designed and piloted the workstream lead model. Identified emerging leaders, provided scaffolding through templates and coaching, and established a two-tier standup cadence — daily workstream standups and a 'standup of standups' to surface interdependencies. Balanced empowerment with oversight by rotating presence where needed most.
▸Outcomes
Delivery pace kept up with demand. Conflicts in shared environments decreased. Five new leaders were developed, building durable organizational capacity. The team gained confidence and ownership, and the model proved replicable in other organizations.
The Challenge
Strong delivery results created new demand. The portfolio quickly expanded from one to many projects running in parallel, expanding from ~$1M to ~$5M in contract value over just a few months.
But complexity doesn't scale linearly. Multiple initiatives were running in shared Salesforce environments, resources were spread thin, and stakeholders overlapped. Among other challenges, the breaking point came when two user acceptance tests ran in the same environment simultaneously — unmerged changes collided, and the team ended up debugging conflicts instead of delivering value.
Without intervention, the team risked both burnout and diminished client trust, as well as reduced project profitability.
The Approach
The solution wasn't to add roles we hadn't budgeted for, but to scale leadership capacity alongside delivery.
Key elements of the workstream lead model:
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Capacity Isn't Optional
- Identified emerging leaders with people skills and appetite to stretch.
- Gave them defined workstreams to own.
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Coaching Over Control
- Provided scaffolding: standardized templates, explanations of the why, and weekly coaching.
- Ensured leaders weren't left alone but weren't micromanaged either.
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Cadence for Coordination
- Introduced daily 8:30–8:45 workstream standups which ran concurrently; I would attend the workstream that needed the most support on that given day.
- Followed by an 8:45–9:00 "standup of standups" to surface interdependencies, deployment conflicts, and risks.
- Created portfolio-level visibility without adding bureaucracy to summarize the entire portfolio on a weekly basis using standardized reporting formats.
The Transformation
The model delivered measurable and cultural impact:
- Delivery kept pace with growing demand.
- Conflicts and collisions in shared environments dropped significantly.
- Five new leaders emerged, expanding capacity for future growth.
- The team's confidence and sense of ownership grew as they saw their impact.
- The model proved durable, and variations have since succeeded in multiple organizations.
Key Lessons
- Spot talent early. People rise when given the chance.
- Stretch assignments need scaffolding. Empowerment without structure is chaos.
- Leadership is built, not assigned. Coaching creates resilience.
- Design for interdependencies. Rituals like the "standup of standups" prevent systemic collisions.
Reflection
This experience showed that when good work brings more work, the right response isn't longer hours — it's multiplying leaders. Distributed leadership allowed us to scale with integrity, keep delivery strong, and grow the next generation of leadership at the same time.
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