How to manage a growing business – a brief guide
Growth is a primary aim of most companies, but it is not without its challenges. Often, successfully growing your company is a delicate balancing act between expanding too rapidly or too slowly. If you err on the cautious side, your competitors will likely overtake you. On the other hand, growing too quickly without the proper infrastructure could cause your business to tear apart at the seams. Therefore, it is vital to manage expansion effectively to enhance the likelihood of the long-term success of your business. Here are some tips for facilitating this.
Know your goals
One of the most important stages of growing a company is to set your objectives for growth and how you will measure these. There are various ways to track your company’s expansion, but it is essential to select relevant metrics for your business. Growth isn’t a consistent experience, and some areas may improve at differing rates. Therefore, it is vital to keep tabs on the growth of important departments of your company.
After setting your targets, you can then develop a timeline in which you want to achieve them. Using tangible milestones is the best option here, as it gives you a distinct way to measure your success.
Work on your hiring process
Your company will not grow all on its own. Your employees are undoubtedly one of the most valuable resources at your disposal, and, ultimately, the expansion of your business will be down to their efforts.
Therefore, it is vital to hire the right employees. This is especially important if you manage a smaller business, as slackers will disproportionately affect your productivity. One of the most important factors when hiring new employees is to ensure they are a good fit for your company’s culture.
If candidates are not suited to your business practices and culture, you will likely experience higher staff turnover. This can significantly stunt growth, so it should be avoided at all costs.
Often, the needs of a business will change as it expands. Some departments will require more staff, whereas others can become redundant altogether. While this might seem daunting, it can offer a chance to find employees that are a good fit for your company from within.
Redeployment is the process of hiring internal employees for other roles in an organisation. This is an excellent option to ensure that your staff all share and subscribe to your culture. Companies like Randstad RiseSmart provide help with redeployment, which can be invaluable as your business grows.
Adapt and evolve as things change
Your company’s expansion will often be accompanied by challenges. These growing pains and how you react to them can define your business and its chances of long term success. Therefore, it is vital to ensure that your employees and your organisation’s infrastructure are flexible and adapt quickly to changes.
As you grow, your client list might experience a corresponding growth. While this is good news for your revenue, it can be a stressful experience for your account managers. More traffic means that you will likely need new servers, and larger order sizes can strain smaller companies that don’t have developed infrastructure.
To counteract this, you must listen to the ideas and concerns of your staff as you grow. They will likely have a better understanding of the processes in their day-to-day role than you. Therefore, they are often best placed to spot outdated systems or areas that could be improved. Adopting new practices and technologies will ensure that your company stays at the forefront of the industry and can reduce the strain on your team.
Look after your customers
While much of your focus should be internal when expanding your company, it is essential to remember who makes the growth possible; paying customers. Regardless of how many products you produce or technologies you incorporate into your infrastructure, you will not be able to grow without a sizable list of clients.
Therefore, listening to your customer base is essential. Customer feedback can help you identify any issues with your products, customer service or even allow you to harness new demographics. Additionally, acting on the feedback you receive will foster a sense of loyalty to your business among your existing customers.
In summary
To conclude, most business owners set their eyes on the growth of their company. However, many do not know how to grow correctly. Rapid growth is often sought out, but it can quickly lead to problems if your team is overwhelmed by a significant increase in work. Therefore, it is vital to understand your targets and how you will reach them. This will allow you to take a steady approach to growth without getting swept off your feet. Ultimately, a slow and steady process will often yield the best long-term results in the business world.