One of the biggest mistakes that almost every new business makes is to build in activities that can only be completed by certain people, or building in activities that require time, energy, or money from the provider but that don’t result in value for the end user. Fundamentally, these mistakes create bottlenecks in the growth cycle of the organization. They artificially limit the critical path of any client project they try to execute.
One of the best habits you can cultivate as the owner or manager of a business, at almost any stage of the growth or maturity cycle, is a consistent review of scalability. Even if now isn’t the right time for your business to make that next jump in terms of size, examining the value elements you’re creating and how they’re delivered is a crucial health check on your organization.
Begin by examining the available resources to deliver the value required by your clients or customers – who is able to do them? If any of these lists are conspicuously short (and even more so if there’s only one name on the list) then it’s time to engage in cross-training, or to examine carefully why that service or function can only be performed by such a limited set. Is it an inherently expensive step? Does it require certain education or training? Can it be simplified to require less specialized resources while still delivering much or all of the benefit?
The best time to identify the issues that will keep you from growing is before you begin to grow. Accelerating into one of these bottlenecks creates a truly unpleasant situation where sacrifices and trade offs must be made without the benefit of a full analysis. So, take the time today to review, streamline, and simplify so your company’s path to growth can be as smooth as possible.
