When was the last time you looked to your business structure for success? As a business leader or business owner, there are many things that can stand in the way of moving a team or organization forward. When you sit still and think about it long enough, you may start to form a tight, white-knuckled grip around the things that you feel you have control over. If fear takes over, the most common perspectives tend to be one of the following:
1. As long as key activities have my full attention, I can keep everything on track.
2. Nobody else has the knowledge, experience or passion for the things that I am responsible for.
What’s On Your Mind?
Let’s explore that for a moment. What kinds of questions or thought-trails are keeping you up at night?
? If my organization grows any bigger, I don’t know if we can handle it.
? Can we remain relevant if we have to downsize?
? What if we hire people and then there’s not enough work or money to sustain them?
? If I lose an employee (or one particular employee), can I quickly fill that gap? Can I afford to replace them?
? Why does my team not seem to understand what is really important to this business?
? At the end of every meeting it feels like everyone is aligned, so why are we revisiting the same conversations weeks later?
? Are employees/vendors/suppliers/partners fully prepared for the pace we are about to face?
? How can I end a business/vendor/employment relationship without hurting my personal relationship with that person?
? If I let go of some of the things I am doing, who will pick up the slack?
? When I let go of some of the things I am doing, can I still get us to the next level?
When In Doubt, Analyze Structure
In our experience, we have found a common thread with these lines of questioning. The things that most often occupy space in your head are the areas of your business that lack structure. Organizations grow, shrink, take varying courses and just evolve over time. A lot of resource-related decisions get made to adjust to those changes as they happen, but when was the last time you took a fresh look at your team and organizational structure to determine if – as a whole – it is still built to support the direction of your business?
Key Questions
When we partner with organizations to evaluate structural decisions, here are some of the questions we ask that help leaders pinpoint where to start.
- What is your core business (what is making you money)?
- How do you sustain your profits?
- What is your current organizational structure?
- Is your current structure best-serving your business intent?
- How do you determine when you need a new employee?
- What factors determine when you need to let an employee go?
- Which area of the business requires most of your time and attention?
- What areas of the business primarily rely on the time and attention of one single person?
- Is there an area of the business that you resent or dread having to deal with?
Need Help?
Who do you have on your team to ask these questions and help you focus on this critical detail? How will you determine if you have a structure for success?
If you are armed and ready, but need someone to help you sort through your thoughts, stay on track, and remain focused on this priority while pursuing your big-picture goals, that is right up our alley! We are certified business coaches who will challenge your perspective, help you to find your focus, determine your best path forward, align your existing resources, and keep you in the driver’s seat to develop areas of structure that your business requires.
If this whole structure thing is not in your bag of tricks, or you don’t have in-house resources to work ON your business while also working IN your business, we can help you there too. As business consultants, we have the expertise to analyze your structure, provide fresh perspective and implement structural changes that are critical for your organization.
Let It Go!
It takes time, help, resources and outside expertise to create a structure for success. The business deserves it. Your brain deserves it. Employees will thrive in it. Structure creates freedom. It is time to let go of those white-knuckled activities and create the structure that will help you succeed. Mind Your Biz can help!