‘More companies starve from indigestion than starvation.’
Businesses looking to scale up should take Bill Hewlett, co-founder of Hewlett Packard’s, statement as a word of warning - scaling up sustainably is not just about more money and more resources.
In his book, Scaling Up: How A Few Companies Make It...and Why the Rest Don’t, Verne Harnish sets out his Four Decisions which, if addressed, can help you successfully scale up your business and grow your revenue. PEOPLE
To prevent burnout as you scale up, it’s vital to address any issues revolving around people first. Take into consideration the happiness of all your stakeholders. Review your recruiting and onboarding process to ensure you’re attracting the right people. And assess the culture, are your employees working in the Performance Zone? There's a great article on reaching the performance zone here
STRATEGY
If you’ve noticed that your revenue growth is starting to slow down, it’s likely that your strategy or business model needs reassessing. It’s important that everyone in the team can concisely define the strategy so that as a business you’re all driving your energy and focus in the same direction.
Arrange a group discussion and reset to re-focus and ensure everyone has clear direction and agreement. There's a great article on how to lead your group through this here
EXECUTION In order to be as efficient and profitable as possible, it’s vital that your processes all run smoothly and without drama. Take time to work on any organisational improvements so that your team can achieve targets on time. While this may mean initial investment in Information technology or human resources and training it will ensure an effective result - For help with planning, we encourage you to read this article: Planning for Success here
CASH
Lastly there is the oxygen of the business, cash. Just like oxygen, cash is needed to fuel growth, as the saying goes, ‘Growth Sucks Cash’. Do you have a consistent source of cash, preferably internally generated? If not, now is the time to critically assess your cash flow so that you not only grow but also build up enough of a cash reserve to survive an economic downturn.
If you are unsure of your true financial position talk with us - we are here to help and the beauty is because we understand your numbers so we can quickly and effectively help to make an effective cashflow plan. We also offer our Business coaching package to find out more here
Grace Team Accounting works with businesses to provide coaching and planning, so that you can sustainably and successfully scale-up your business. To find out more get in contact.