Taking a Small Business to the Next Level

Taking a Small Business to the Next Level
Taking a small business to the next level. An interesting
concept. What exactly does that mean? "The next level"
indisputably means something different to individual
companies, but the core principals will most likely be the
same. And what holds small business owners back from doing
this? What may come as a surprise some is that money
resources are not the only - or even the foremost - issue
for these companies.

Leadership is the key. It's imperative that owners and
strategic leaders are able to 'let go' and delegate. One
of the most difficult things for a business owner or leader
to do is to empower other people to make decisions; to
provide them with clear expectations and then to let go.
Owners and leaders often have a strong sense that they can
'do it better' and faster than it will take to train
someone else to do it. Sometimes they simply feel that
everything will fall apart without them doing it. Learning
how to empower others is the key to sustainable growth.

The actions and the person who can get a business to one
level may not be (and often is not) the same action or
person who can move that company to a higher level. To
illustrate this point, consider the people an organization
hires that are perfect for them when the company is
generating $1M in revenue. Those individuals may not be
the right people for the organization as they approach the
$5M revenue-generating point. It's sad to acknowledge that
companies can outgrow their key leader, but it is true
nonetheless. Businesses owners and leaders need to be
willing to look at their staff regularly and determine if
they have the right people to move the company forward.
Often, the actions that have taken them to one level in
sales will not be the same actions they need to take in
order to get to the next level. They may need to change
how they market, who they market to, who they see as their
ideal client, the level of service they supply and/or many
other actions.

Another of the biggest challenges small businesses face is
the act of growing too fast. They may even be just growing
steadily, but the leaders are ignoring the need for a more
integrated and effective infrastructure. Business needs
change as a company grows. Let's face it. If you are
building a simple one story house you need a totally
different foundation than you would if you wanted to build
a sky scraper. The same concept applies to business. You
need to look at your systems, processes, procedures,
technology and all related infrastructure. You need to
evaluate these things and change them as necessary while
your business is growing. Far too often we see businesses
facing a huge growth in sales without the infrastructure in
place that's necessary to support the growth. As soon as
growth gets beyond infrastructure, these companies begin to
experience other problems. Their customer service is
lacking, internal communication amongst staff suffers and
they can't manage basic tasks, like delivery, that have
grown out of control.

So the main challenges for a small business moving to the
next level are:

1. Refusal of business owners to let go of the technical
aspect of their work. Many owners are too closely involved
in actual day-to-day work and production. A business
cannot grow when the "person at the helm" continues to wear
so many hats.

Solution: Let the professionals you hire do what they are
paid to do.

2. A lack of strong infrastructure to support the growth of
the business.

Solution: Put the right foundation, systems, processes and
technology in place.

The key to long term success is looking at everything, and
finding lessons you can glean from what you see.
Successes, and what might be perceived as failures, all
have lessons attached if we are willing to look for them.
To grow a business, one has to continually have a beginners
mind. Always be willing to think innovatively, find new
ways of perceiving what you see, and always look for lesson
that comes with what you have already tried.

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Linda Finkle, CEO of INCEDO GROUP, works with innovative
leaders around the world who understand that business needs
a new organizational growth style. These innovative leaders
know that powerful cross-functional communication is the
highest priority and the strongest strategy for building
organizational effectiveness. To find out more, visit:
http://www.IncedoGroup.com