Management in a Fast-Moving Environment
Business does not move at the pace you want to set. Business goes and does when it pleases, leaving you trying to catch up or working to stay ahead. And, if you think you are keeping up, you are probably already running behind. Here’s what I mean.
In business, if you want to go somewhere bigger and better, you need the right people and processes to manage that growth. In fact, one of the most surprising and constant business killers is too much success achieved too fast. Don’t believe me? Try it. Learn what it means to disappoint everyone and always feel frustrated because you are not connecting with your customers, delivering on your promises or managing all your success opportunities. That’s the price of growing beyond your ability to manage that growth.
Bottom line, what works when you are you in your garage will not work when it’s you plus a couple hundred people in some office building somewhere. Scalability is the name of the game. That takes planning, and that takes work. It also takes a willingness to Let Things Go.
I know you entrepreneur. You’re the guy or gal who gets things done. Everything, right? Chief, cook and bottle washer, everything from sales calls to janitorial services. You’re proud of that, and you have every right to be. But you can’t keep it up forever…particularly if you want to grow. You have to bring in people that can do at least one of your old jobs better than you did it. Now, I’m not talking about doing it exactly like you did it. I’m talking about a specialist, who can grasp the big picture while focusing on one aspect of it. You’re all painting the Sistine Chapel, and that guy is in charge of God’s beard. He’s the best beard painter you could find, and, even if he does it a little bit different than you would, he (or she) gets it done well.
Another aspect of controlled growth has to do with who’s responsible for what. Now, at first blush that sounds exactly like what I just said…but it’s not. There’s a difference between who CAN do and who is IN charge. This step is about chain of command. In a small business, you can have all the departments report directly to you. If you want growth, that can’t work for very long. Now, you can often move those people into positions that report to you, but then you need people to do the jobs (beard painting, etc.) they were doing. Either way, you need to establish structure to manage where you want to grow, not what you are actually doing.
See, if you can only handle what you have, that’s your ceiling. If you want to do more, you have to be more.
Jonah Engler is a financial expert based in New York City. A full-time stock broker, franchise owner, coffee lover and investor; Engler helps startup businesses and franchise’s grow through smart financial planning.