Top Tips for Managing a Growing Business
As businesses expand, new challenges and growing pains inevitably arise. Processes that worked for a small startup often buckle under the increased complexity of a larger operation. Managing a thriving, growing business means adapting your practices and systems.
Define Processes and Roles
When you’re tiny, everyone pitches in all-hands-on-deck style to get things done. But as you grow, having undefined processes and roles leads to chaos. Take time to clearly map out all core processes across departments. Spell out each role’s responsibilities to eliminate overlap and dropped balls. Documented processes create consistency as new employees join.
Upgrade Your Tech Stack
The piecemeal apps and software you used in the early days won’t cut it anymore at an increased scale. Invest in more robust tools built for growing businesses, like CRMs, project management platforms and accounting systems. It’s worth the upfront cost for the productivity gains and ability to manage more complexity. For example, a professional live answering service provided by a company like Apello ensures no calls are missed as volume increases.
Create a Thriving Culture
Work hard to shape a strong, positive culture that attracts and retains your most talented team members. Define and live by clearly articulated company values. Provide ample opportunities for team bonding, professional development, and celebrating wins together.
Ruthlessly Prioritize
In those early start-up days, everyone was scrappy and juggled dozens of priorities. That approach is no longer effective on a large scale. Identify only a few top-priority tasks and dedicate all efforts to them. Avoid letting conflicting interests and personal projects drain resources and hinder progress. A narrow, targeted focus helps you keep growing efficiently.
Automate and Outsource
Look for all the areas you can streamline through automation tools and outsourcing partners. Take maximum advantage of time-saving tech solutions. Hire contractors or firms to take on repetitive, low-value tasks. That frees up your core employees to concentrate on higher leverage work.
Monitor Metrics Closely
As operations grow more complex, it’s crucial to stay on top of all the key metrics that reflect business health and performance. Go beyond just top-level stuff like revenue. Drill down into granular departmental stats and leading indicators as well. Set up automated dashboards for real-time visibility into the metrics that matter most. Constant monitoring allows you to spot issues and course correct swiftly.
Tighten Financials
While you were small, cutting corners on financial processes was understandable. But growth demands that you document a more disciplined, professional financial system. Get rigorous about budgeting, cash flow management, billing, invoicing, payroll, and the like. Clean books are essential for making sound strategic decisions.
Foster Communication
Frequent, transparent communication becomes more challenging but also more important as your team expands. There’s usually an adjustment period as employees are no longer in the loop on everything the way they were at a micro scale. Establish regular meetings, reporting structures, and feedback loops so information flows freely in all directions.
Evolve Customer Service
With more customers, accounts, and transactions, it’s easy for the customer experience to suffer amid rapid growth if you aren’t careful. Look at ways to optimize and even automate many service functions, from onboarding workflows to knowledge bases. Don’t lose the high-touch human element altogether, though. Quality support keeps customers happy.
Conclusion
Managing a rapidly growing business is exhilarating, but also wildly stressful at times. Putting the right structures, processes, talent, and tools in place means you can mitigate that chaos. Focus on building solid foundations for deftly operating at scale. Always keep one eye looking ahead at what’s coming down the pipeline, so your business is equipped to thrive at that next stage of growth.
