In this article, we will be covering the array of problems that arise when you grow too fast. A quickly scaling business is a goal to many, but it’s also very dangerous to your long-term success if you can’t navigate it properly. We aim to provide guidance on how to ensure you’re not harming yourself by taking on more work.
You’ve just onboarded a new client - congratulations! However, the faces of your team show little joy, even though that’s the third big client you won this month. What’s not to celebrate? The business is doing great, you are scaling at a rapid speed and things are looking up, so what’s with the long face? Simple. Your team is struggling with all these new projects thrown their way, and being told they have another one is barely the good news. Despite being seen as a goal by many, quick scaling is actually detrimental to most businesses.
Quick results are barely ever sustainable. The growth spur is often a one-time wonder rather than a consistent process, meaning it will halt the moment there resources needed for it are exhausted. This is essentially what happens to quickly scaling businesses too - they hit the wall. But let’s take a more in-depth look into it and what can you do to prevent it.
What Happens When a Business Scales Too Fast?
There are many dangers that come into play when businesses scale too rapidly:
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They start spreading themselves out too thinly;
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The workers get burnt out quickly;
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There is less time to build more personalised experiences for clients;
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The quality often suffers;
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Priorities shift from values to revenue.
In other words, it isn’t as great as we are made to believe. In fact, it’s harmful to businesses in the long run as they put their very identity at stake. That’s what our next section is about - how to keep your business authentic.
Don’t Lose Sight of What’s Important
Every business exists for a reason other than making money. Often that purpose is what brings the teams together, motivating them to work towards a mutual goal. Unfortunately, both are often lost when the growth happens too quickly. Awareness will help you avoid that.
Your Team is Your Priority
The mentality of the customer always being right is as outdated as it is harmful. However, when you are rapidly scaling it’s very easy to start caring for the clients and pleasing them all the while neglecting your team. Remember, they are the primary reason you have clients and it's their hard work that enabled you to scale. In other words, your team is the core of your success. If fail them, you are as good as done.
Make sure to put all you can towards creating the best working conditions for your staff’s wellbeing. If possible, implement practices such as flexible working or the hybrid office to help them find work-life balance. Additionally, supply them with tools that help them automate some of the more tedious tasks. Overall, try easing their workload as much as you can, consider implementing prioritisation coaching and building more efficient, smoother workflows. All in all, treat your team as your most valuable asset and protect them from burnout.
Remember Your Values
Company values are your compass when it comes to navigating the direction in which our business is moving, how it’s growing and how you address the challenges ahead. In other words, they should guide you in your decision-making. Losing sight of your values won’t just halt whatever scaling progress you’ve been making but also impact the quality of services you’re offering. That, in turn, is likely to sour the relationships and rapport you’ve built with your clients, potentially losing them as a result.
When you’re exposed to bigger volumes of work, tighter deadlines and higher expectations, it’s easy to get caught up in all that, forgetting why you do the things you do. This is the best practice is to have it written down and always in front of yourself and your team. It can be a big vinyl in the office, a screensaver on a company’s computer, or whatever works best for you. Your values are what bring your team together, shape your work ethic and the experience you bring to your clients. Staying true to it even through growth spurts will only lead to more consistent scaling and improvements moving forward.
How to Stay on Track
If your business is already undergoing quick scaling, you probably aren’t willing to completely abandon whatever progress you’ve made. So your priority then is learning to manage the situation at hand. And we are happy to help.
Slow Down and Practice Sustainable Growth
Many companies view quick scaling as a business goal and that’s often a crucial mistake that gets them backed in the corner. Everyone wants great results in the shortest time possible, hence there’s little surprise in this logic. But it’s often overlooked that the business needs to be ready to scale. You wouldn’t put a very advanced elementary schooler into a high school class and expect them not to struggle. While they may be well-primed academically, they will still lack the maturity to get along with their peers. This is basically the same situation.
With that said, you shouldn’t rush the growth and instead take a slower but more sustainable route. You will still be growing, but at a pace that doesn’t overwhelm either you or your team. Unlike a quick flash growth that usually ends just as abruptly due to being unable to adapt to the sudden change, it’s a long-term, continuous solution progress. What’s more, once you get a hang of it, it doesn’t really end. So take a breath and relax. It’s not a race.
Invest in Digital Tools Your Team Needs
Having briefly touched on helping your team with the workload by introducing automation tools, we now feel the need to expand on the topic. Mostly because the market for digital tools is giant and is growing by the second. You most certainly don’t have the time to try them all out and you don’t want to make a wrong choice, given some solutions are costly and often charge on an annual basis.
The key here is understanding what your team actually needs and what they struggle with. You may have your assumptions or guesses, but ultimately it’s the people who will be using the tool that will need to have a say. Ask them, best directly. In fact, allow them to be the ones to propose the solutions instead of researching and shortlisting them yourself. Not only will it save you time, but also likely to get you the right tools. Very often employees already have experience with the software they propose, cutting the time required for training too.
Smart Approach to Growth
As you’ve gathered by now, similarly to everything, business scaling needs to be approached with a strategy in mind. As tempting as it is to chase after the low-hanging fruit, it isn’t always the best route. Especially when we’re talking about growth.
Long-term Solutions Over Quick Fixes
Often, when the workload becomes overwhelming, the first solution companies come up with is growing their team. And, for a short while, this is a very effective solution. The problem is that once you dig yourself out of a backlog with more employees, you inevitably start picking up more clients again and, before long, you hit the same wall. And, realistically, many companies are not in a position to continuously grow their teams.
This is precisely why you need to go down the route of sustainable growth. As we’ve discussed already, it doesn’t deliver instant results, but the things you achieve are there to stay and improve with time. We are all about investing in people, but why not invest in your existing employees, their comfort and success over hiring new people and investing in getting them to the level you need them at? Not to repeat ourselves, but your existing team should be your priority. And if you’re interested in growing it for reasons other than being overwhelmed - it will always come second.
Summary
Everyone wants quick results. However, this is not a sustainable approach to business growth. Rapid scaling may look great at first, but it almost always comes to a halt simply because your business isn’t ready to face the workload that comes with it. So, instead, you should focus on slower, quality-driven scaling that is consistent and becomes an ongoing process.
While you need clients to generate revenue and keep your business going, your team should be your priority. That said, you don’t want them overwhelmed with the clients’ work. Additionally, you don’t want the workload to become greater than your business values. That said, you should invest in tools that will aid your team in their efforts, lessening their workload. It’s a more sustainable solution than expanding your team every time they begin struggling. In other words, while quick results are satisfying to see, they are not forever. Play the long game. It pays off.
There’s no rush. Let us take over for you.
