Scaling People and Operations Successfully: Insights from Alexandra Loi

The tech ecosystem globally is a fast-paced, ever changing landscape. Scaling a company successfully goes beyond increasing revenues or expanding operations - it requires solid, sustainable, scalable foundations to allow growth without losing out on company culture, performance and its people. HR and people leadership is at the core of this process. As companies scale rapidly, the challenges for HR leaders often multiply. These can range from attracting and retaining the right talent, automating processes, implementing effective tools, to fostering a culture that aligns with business goals and more. The role of HR has evolved from being one-dimensional and operational, to becoming a strategic driver of growth.

To address these challenges and share best practices, Endeavor Greece hosted its third thought leadership session as part of the CHRO & People Leaders Community, launched earlier in 2024 with the support of Sofia Kouzinopoulos, former Chief People Officer at Vestiaire Collective. This session featured Alexandra Loi, Chief People & Sustainability Officer at ESL FACEIT Group, formerly Global Head of HR at Revolut. Drawing from her experience scaling teams and operations in some of the world’s fastest-growing companies, Alexandra provided invaluable insights into how HR and people leaders can successfully navigate challenges that arise as a result of scaling companies. 

Alexandra Loi has developed a strong career in HR, focusing on creating and implementing effective strategies to help companies grow by improving their people and operations. She started her career at Colgate-Palmolive and BCG. Subsequently, following her time at Korn Ferry, the leading global organizational consulting firm, she continued in senior leadership positions at Kaizen Gaming (Group HR Director), and Revolut (Global Head of HR). In both roles Alexandra helped the companies scale their teams by more than 4x and build the corresponding operations to support and sustain this growth. Today, following this professional journey, Alexandra has joined the ESL FACEIT Group as Chief People & Sustainability Officer.

Key Takeaways: How HR Leaders Can Enable Successful Scaling

During the roundtable, Alexandra outlined actionable strategies and frameworks for HR leaders to scale effectively. Below are the key insights Alexandra shared with the attendees. 

1. Starting with the Business in Mind

HR leaders need to have a solid understanding of how their company generates revenue, what drives growth, and what are the organization’s pain points. Alexandra emphasized that one of the first things HR leaders need to do is understand how a company makes money. This is the starting point of everything.

By aligning HR initiatives such as recruitment strategies, onboarding processes, and retention programs with business objectives, HR leaders can build credibility and position themselves as strategic partners of the company and its leadership.

2. The Three Pillars of Scaling - Processes, People, Tools

To successfully scale teams and operations, HR leaders must focus on three interconnected pillars:

• Processes: Building systems that are scalable, user-friendly, and adaptable to change as the team changes and grows is a fundamental element in this context. Processes should guide the organization while allowing for flexibility in fast-paced, changing conditions.

• People: One of the most crucial challenges for HR leaders is investing in building the right team at the right time. Creating the space and addressing gaps through open, compassionate discussions can have a transformative effect for the organization.

• Tools: By implementing the systems and technologies needed to enable productivity and efficiency, HR leaders can help drive growth and development. Without the right tools, even the best teams cannot perform effectively. Alexandra emphasized that someone may have built the “best” team in the world, but without the right systems successful performance can easily be blocked.

3. Gaining Leadership Support - Building the Business Case

HR leaders can often face resistance by senior leadership when promoting change. Alexandra shared insights and advice on how to overcome this.  

• Identifying key decision-makers and understanding their motivations (e.g., cost reduction, increased sales, or efficiency gains).

• Building a data-driven business case for proposed changes and tools.

• Communicating clearly and consistently to create alignment across the leadership team.

• Solving problems that are relevant to the company’s leadership team and earning credibility.

4. Prioritizing Culture Early

Alexandra highlighted that strong, well-defined culture provides the foundation for successful scaling, while emphasizing the importance of translating values into measurable behaviors that can be integrated across recruitment, onboarding, and operations.

This approach ensures that new hires align with the company’s culture early on and are empowered to contribute to the company’s growth from day one.

5. Avoiding Common Scaling Mistakes

From her multi-year experience in HR, Alexandra shared common challenges she has faced in her career and HR leaders may also face when scaling, as well as how to avoid them in the process of making a real difference in the organization:

• Overcommitting: Prioritize based on the organization’s immediate needs and key pain points.

• Poor Communication: Engage stakeholders early, take them on the journey, and ensure clarity at every step.

• Staying Too Long: Recognize when an environment no longer aligns with your strengths or goals.

• Neglecting Self-Care: Scaling is demanding, so HR professionals must prioritize their well-being and take care of themselves to perform at their best and deliver for their team and organization.

6. Metrics and Accountability - Measuring What Matters

HR leaders should focus on establishing clear success metrics to ensure alignment and accountability across the organization in a cohesive way and understanding what success looks like and how progress is measured. Performance tools, recruitment processes, and leadership development programs should all be tied to clear, measurable outcomes as markers of progress.

Monitoring and tracking these metrics empowers HR initiatives to contribute meaningfully to the company’s growth and further support the role of HR as a strategic partnership across departments and operations. 

Final Reflections: HR as a Strategic Growth Driver

Alexandra’s advice and insights from her multi-year career in HR leadership resonated with the roundtable participants. As organizations scale, HR leaders must combine agility, awareness, and communication as core skills to navigate change effectively. They must align people, processes, and tools with business objectives while fostering a culture that supports sustainable growth. Alexandra closed the session by emphasizing that in order to be able to deliver and successfully perform in your role, you need to take care of yourself and know what brings you joy in everyday life. 

Through this perspective, HR leaders can drive growth, creating organizations that not only scale but also become more sustainable, resilient, and better equipped for the future.