IF your company is growing fast, it’s exciting – but it can also be a mad scramble.

So it’s important to do what you’re least likely to do: stop, take stock and think strategically.

The Brighton and Hove Chamber of Commerce’s ‘High rise debate on high growth' did just that.

Sponsored by Barclays at the i360, it gave the panel and audience a chance to explore the things that will keep them on that high-growth curve: staff, systems, culture and funding.

How do you know whether your new team members will do your company justice?

James Dempster, MD of Cobb Digital and one of the panellists, said: "Employing the right people is really, really important, particularly amongst your sales team. They have to live and breathe your company’s ethics, because if they are going off and promising things that they can’t deliver, that is no good.

"Equally, if they don’t understand what your business is about, and are promoting that in a wider market, that is no good either."

Richard Heggie, another panellist, is head of the high growth and entrepreneurs proposition at Barclays.

He agreed that maintaining your culture is a challenge when your team is expanding at speed:

"A lot of people tell me that growing a team to 25 is one thing; but if you’re trying to grow to 150, that is completely different.

"This plays into the culture issue: how do you keep your company’s values? At some point you can’t control them. So how do you create a way in which those values are lived beyond your ability to stay in control? How do you give your company that identity, instilling it in the staff as you grow your teams?"

Nikki Gatenby, the third panellist, is MD of Propellernet, a digital marketing consultancy.

She knows a thing or two about creating a thriving culture. For the last four years Propellernet has been ranked within the top 10 Best Places to Work in the UK.

This has not happened by coincidence.

She said: "You need have a strong ethos and culture to start with. You need to stand for something to be able to maintain it.

"What do you stand for, beyond profit and growth – which are great goals – but what purpose do you serve? Why would people be attracted to want to work with you? Because that attraction will help you to scale and grow.

"If people know what they are signing up for and are excited by it, then you will minimise the challenges of maintaining your ethos and culture, because you have embedded it from the beginning."