The Hard Part About Growth is Maintaining Alignment

A conversation with Vera Solomatina, SVP of People & Culture at inDrive

Growth puts pressure on everything, from structure and leadership to decision-making and culture. By the time a company reaches real scale, those pressures are no longer subtle. Gaps in alignment show up in how decisions get made, how leaders operate across regions, and how clearly the organization understands where it’s going.

That’s where the role of People & Culture changes. Vera Solomatina has spent her career operating in that environment, from global enterprises like SAP to high-growth companies like inDrive. Today, she leads People & Culture across 48 countries while the business continues to evolve in real time.

Olga Lorenz, Partner in True’s Consumer Practice, spoke with Vera Solomatina about what changes as organizations scale and what it takes to maintain clarity and consistency as complexity increases.

Q&A with Vera

Q: How do you describe the challenge of building a culture in a company that is constantly transforming?

Vera: I often use the analogy of “transforming the plane while it’s flying.” The challenge is that you don’t have the luxury of stopping to redesign your HR processes. The business is moving, revenue is scaling, and marketing is shifting all at the same time. So the real work is ensuring that as you change your structures, systems and ways of working, employees still feel aligned, understand where the company is going, and stay connected to the mission. Change the plane, not the destination.

In high-growth environments, structures, processes, and roles will shift constantly, and that’s expected. What can’t afford to shift is people’s understanding of where the company is going. When employees lose sight of the destination, even the best operational changes create anxiety instead of momentum. The leader’s job is to keep the mission visible and consistent, no matter how much is moving around it.

Q: You’ve recently spoken about performance management becoming a “business discipline.” Why is that shift so critical for high-growth boards?

Vera: Because at scale, boards are looking for predictability versus straight HR activity. In smaller companies, performance can be managed by intuition or feel. But as you grow, that breaks down. You need visibility into critical roles, leadership pipelines, and potential risks across geographies. Performance management becomes the mechanism that provides that visibility. Yes, this includes performance reviews, but it really is about using the data from these reviews to anticipate issues and ensure the organization can sustain its growth.

Q: You are a big proponent of the “Talent Ecosystem.” You believe talent strategy goes far beyond just current employees. Tell us more.

Vera: A modern talent strategy has to extend beyond the people currently in your organization. It includes alumni, partners, clients, and even suppliers. Alumni can return with new skills or refer strong candidates. Partners and universities help build future pipelines. When you think in terms of an ecosystem, you’re building long-term access to talent and capabilities.

Vera’s Hints & Tips: Leading Through Transformation

We asked Vera what matters most for people leaders navigating rapid growth.

Prioritize governance over policy: Focus on how decisions are made, how people are rewarded, and how successors are identified. If governance is clear, policies can evolve.
Let data be your voice: At the board level, data needs to back people’s decisions, especially when linking culture and talent to business outcomes.
Lead with courage: What worked at 500 employees will not work at 3,000. Scaling requires letting go of systems that no longer fit.

The True Perspective

At scale, alignment is an operating requirement. It shows up in how consistently leaders make decisions, how clearly priorities are communicated, and how much visibility the business has into its own talent. The role of the CHRO follows that shift. It’s less about supporting the business and more about ensuring the business can continue to operate effectively as it grows.

Vera Solomatina represents this new league of the CHRO: a data-driven, mission-led board partner who views People & Culture as the ultimate lever for business value.