Recently, I made the decision to work with a large, well-known national company.
Part of my reasoning was simple: bigger company, bigger team, more resources.
At least, that’s what I assumed.
There were lots of people under the same brand, several working locally and seemingly plenty of resources behind them. I thought that meant I wasn’t just hiring one person—I was hiring into a network of professionals who communicated and supported one another.
What I found was something different.
A Group of People Isn’t Necessarily a Team
The people covered for each other when someone was sick or out of town, but otherwise they seemed to operate very independently—almost more like competitors sharing the same logo than members of one team.
One conversation stuck with me. When I asked about a service being provided through the company, the response was essentially:
“I don’t know. They just bill my credit card for the work they do for me.”
There was clearly trust that everyone did their individual job, but that isn’t the same as collaboration.
When I Expected the Team to Appear
That became even clearer when the person I was working with decided to step away.
With probably 30 or more people working under the same brand locally, I expected something like:
“I’m not the right person to continue working with you, but let me introduce you to someone else in our office.”
That would have kept me with the brand while giving another person within the organization an opportunity.
Instead, there was no recommendation, introduction or handoff.
It made me wonder: What is the advantage of having 30 people in an office if everyone essentially operates as a company of one?
Then I Talked to a Smaller Company
The contrast was noticeable almost immediately.
In my first conversations with a much smaller local company, I kept hearing:
We.
“We can do this.”
“Our team handles that.”
“I’ll talk with…”
“We have our team meeting Wednesday…”
Other team members were mentioned by name. Responsibilities seemed connected. There was an awareness of what everyone did and how they worked together.
The larger organization had a lot of I.
The smaller organization had a lot of we.
Big Is Not the Same as Connected
A national brand does not automatically mean collaboration.
A large office does not automatically mean a team.
And having more resources doesn’t mean people actually use those resources together.
There’s a lesson here for small businesses, too. We sometimes look at larger competitors and assume they have an advantage because they have more people, money and resources.
But small businesses can have something incredibly valuable: real collaboration.
Know what your coworkers are doing. Refer business to each other. Make introductions. Share resources. And when you can no longer serve a customer, connect them with someone on your team who can.
Because putting a bunch of people under the same logo creates an organization.
Getting them to work together creates a team.
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