This is the first in a series of posts concerning the successful management of high growth businesses. One of the most common problems high growth businesses face is how to match organisational growth with sales. The Problem Simply put sales can grow discretely and tends to be quite smooth. Organisations growth, by contrast, tends to be much more lumpy. This is because a certain staffing complement has a finite growth capacity and beyond that point just adding people doesn’t help. In fact at some point adding people reduces performance. What is required is an organisational restructure which...
Whilst planning is important for all businesses it is vital in a high growth company. More importantly planning needs to be more thorough and detailed than in companies where growth is at a more leisurely pace. Its obvious really, issues come at you faster and more frequently in a high growth scenario and you and your management team need to be ready to deal with it. You can’t do this in a purely reactive mode, you and your management team need to have explored in detail the key linkages in your business and have some understanding of the potential stress points as well as solutions for...
When a business is first starting out, the owners usually make a business plan of the way they want their company to pan out. However, as more work comes through and more time is taken up, it can be tricky to keep on top of updating your plan to adapt to new situations. Most businesses undertake a SWOT analysis or risk assessment of their company to begin with as well. It is vital to stay on top of these exercises and review your organisation on a routine basis so that nothing is missed. Plan ahead! We often this of risk assessment as being associated with health and safety, where the aim of the...
When a business is first starting out, the owners usually make a business plan of the way they want their company to pan out. However, as more work comes through and more time is taken up, it can be tricky to keep on top of updating your plan to adapt to new situations. Most businesses undertake a SWOT analysis or risk assessment of their company to begin with as well. It is vital to stay on top of these exercises and review your organisation on a routine basis so that nothing is missed. Plan ahead! We often this of risk assessment as being associated with health and safety, where the aim of the...