At Dartcell, we very much specialise in helping company owners like you manage their financial duties. But to do so, we need to immerse ourselves in what’s happening within your firm – and this often involves helping you iron out any issues or inconsistencies that are wreaking havoc with your corporate growth, whether they are fiscal, practical, or circumstantial.
Finances aside, there are plenty of common growing pains that can take the wind out of your sails as an evolving business. In part one and part two of this series, we’ve listed some of the temporary difficulties you’re likely to face as you go through periods of development, and some sound guidance we’ve acquired over the years as outsourced finance directors.
What are the most common growing pains in business – and how can you manage them more effectively?
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Defining responsibilities (and developing damaging silos)
When you first started your business, chances are you wore multiple hats – and so did your first hires. However, in the same way that you should expect to pass some of these responsibilities over to others as your company evolves, there comes a point in any organisation where everybody’s roles must be further defined, and specific individuals must be allowed to play to their strengths.
What you want to avoid is the process of siloing, which occurs when certain divisions of your business operate too independently from one another and stop communicating for the greater good of the firm. This is likely to occur if staff are particularly territorial; they want to hold on to their own tasks because this is all they know and they are confronted by the possibility of change.
The solution is to make collaboration a key part of your operations. You also need to make it very clear what the overarching vision of your business is, so everybody can understand it and buy into it; this will help to keep everyone on the same page and working towards the same goals, which in itself can result in more positive team relationships. CRM and/or project management can assist with interdepartmental communications, too (and we’ll share more on these later).
Clear development paths are also essential for helping to define responsibilities and keep staff fulfilled in their positions. We’ll cover hiring and retention in more detail in part two.
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Inadequate project management
You’ve got lots of people working on a project – but no one to oversee it, and/or make sure its delivery is as streamlined and as cost-effective as possible. Sound familiar?
It’s an easy trap to fall into when fast growth means you’ve been forced to make a series of quick hires, or your customers’ requirements are overtaking your resources. As well as overstretching your teams, communications are taking place across all channels, and your people feel like they are being bombarded with endless calls, emails, and text messages; this won’t support the success of the project, nor will it be any good for their mental health.
In situations like these, we have helped many of our clients implement more robust and accessible project management systems. The software they require will vary depending on the size of their business and the complexity of their workloads – but in almost all cases, the right kind of tech can help employees plan deliverables, communicate, track progress, and report on KPIs with relative ease.
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Poorly performing managers
Whether it’s because they are overworked or because they simply lack the skills expected of them, your managers may sometimes drop the ball. The occasional slip-up is acceptable – after all, we’re all human. But more frequent misjudgements will eventually have a damaging impact on customer experiences, staff morale, and, of course, your growth trajectory.
It may sound simple, but it’s something that’s often overlooked when employers are in ‘panic’ mode: always assess the suitability of a candidate for every managerial position. Make sure they have the experience to a) run your projects more effectively and b) manage their own teams with competence. You’ll need someone with abilities in both areas if you want their department to run itself. If they are weaker in one field, consider investing in training to help them expand their knowledge and empower them to become better leaders.
Make sure you do not overload your managers with too many projects or too many personnel. As a general rule, you’ll need to make sure that no more than ten people report to any one manager.
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Constant firefighting
In our experience, there comes a point in every business’s lifecycle where its owners appear to do nothing more than settle disputes and fix problems. It’s a tiring, uncomfortable, and thankless period – but it’s a vital learning curve that will push you into your next phase.
Usually, when you find yourself consistently fighting fires, it’s because your systems and processes are not up to scratch; they are not supporting you, your staff, or your customers in the way that they should. Often, too, it’s because you don’t have people in your wider teams who have the expertise to deal with these problems more efficiently.
The best thing to do in this situation is to turn to others for guidance. This is a lesson in delegating and outsourcing the tasks, processes, and situations that you are not equipped to handle (or simply don’t want to deal with).
By all means, explore the possibility of hiring external help to assist with different areas of your business (such as a part-time finance director to take care of the numbers). Don’t be afraid to switch up the way you’re doing things and consider new methods, technologies and approaches that could make everybody’s lives easier. You could also take active steps to build a tougher support structure around you; a tight-knit spider’s web of trusted members of staff who can take on some of the pressure in a crisis.
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Loss of purpose
Can you remember why you set up your business in the first place?
Do your teams share the values and goals that drove you to launch your enterprise?
Do your teams even know about these values and goals?
It’s easy to lose sight of the bigger picture in business; that is, what you’re trying to achieve for the greater good of your industry or your community. Of course, there’s always the possibility that this vision, or purpose, will change and evolve over time, and this is perfectly fine.
The main thing to remember is, you need to make everyone who works for you aware of what you are working towards – and ensure they also share your passion for what you do.
Having a clear purpose enables you to achieve three things:
- Ensure all staff buy in to your ‘why’ and are committed to the same objectives
- Make smarter developmental decisions based on what aligns with your company’s mission, not just simply what you need to do in order to survive
- Attract customers who align with your ethos, and are therefore more likely to become advocates of your brand in the longer term
If it helps, and you haven’t done so already, craft a short, clear mission statement that can be shared with your team (and your customers) as a permanent reminder of what’s important to you and to them.
We’ll cover more business growing pains in part two.