Are you ready to take your business to the next level? If so, kudos to you for being a stellar leader and getting far enough in your business to be thinking about scaling. Most entrepreneurs do not get are far as you have. As you may be feeling, growing a business is a complex and dynamic process. As an organization increases revenue and employees, there are different challenges that you will face at each pass. While some of these roadblocks may feel unique to you and your business, the truth is that there are a set of predictable peaks and valleys that every business goes through as it grows. Being aware of these challenges will allow you to properly plan for them. In turn, creating a sustainable “offensive strategy” which will help you to avoid burn out.
Get Comfortable with Letting Go
When a business is in its infancy stages, all responsibilities fall onto the shoulders of the founder. While this system often leads to embarrassing levels of stress and strain on “work life balance,” it is actually an easier stage to manage. When the leader plays a major role in each part of the business, she is then functioning with a very comfortable level of control. However, this kind of involvement isn’t sustainable as you scale your business and is the one thing that will certainly prevent your organization from flourishing. That is the bad news. However, there is light at the end of the tunnel.
While letting go and trusting others to manage aspects of your business can be extremely unnerving, you should rest assure knowing that it is absolutely the way to begin the growth journey. A good leader must learn how to delegate gracefully and responsibly. There are three major stages as your company expands.
Stage 1: To grow from 2 to 10 employees, you must focus your attention on getting all tasks off your plate that you are not strongest at. Your biggest asset is your time, and you must be 100% focused on using it effectively.
Stage 2: When growing to 50 employees. It is essential to start giving away areas of the business in which you are actually strong. Scary, yes. But this is the moment to start paying attention to SOPs and hiring/training initiatives to make sure that whomever is replacing you has the support, systems, and ability to totally rock.
Stage 3: When you supersize your business beyond 50 employees it is time to spend a good majority of your energy fostering stellar leaders inside your organization. You can offer this through support, education and team building. It’s the stage in which you turn on the charm in order to develop evangelists within your organization. In the future, this will set you free.
Now that you see the different stages of growth and where core function of the business must be delegated, the question remains: How exactly can this be facilitated in an efficient way?
A simple framework can be activated to make sure your organization is healthy and primed for growth. It is the system you can put into place to make your business truly scaleable. Bear in mind that before you can relinquish control of anything, you must be confident that you’ve found the best person for each position. Hire slowly and fire quickly in order to build the strongest team—which will become your launchpad for success.
The Scalable Business Playbook
· Lay out the priorities of each department and what needs to be accomplished in order to reach specific goals set in your company strategy.
· Determine what measurable results the executive and her team are responsible for executing.
· Establish a clear communication plan in the form of reporting and regular meetings. Take leadership seriously and by being disciplined and focused on keeping operational flow. At the same time, your executive team must have the guidance and authority to issue rewards and recognition to their staff to keep the team happy and motivated.
From Busy Founder to Inspirational Leader
Now that structure has been put into place to remove draining tasks from your plate it is time to think about the new core functions to focus on. At UgliBoss, we believe it should be discipline (in a fun way) and consistency.
During the growth stages of a company, founders become the leaders and ambassadors of the “Big Picture.” This is when Core Values, Mission Statement, and Goals come into play. The owner must be the keeper of these initiatives help to infuse excitement, motivation, support and accountability throughout the organization.
No sustainable business is grown overnight. It takes patience, hard work, and dedication to see the fruits of your labor. Stay strong and focused, genuine and sincere with your team. Good leaders lead with their hearts and have the ability to change the world through the work that they do.
We can’t wait to see you at the top!