How to Manage a Quickly Scaling Business?
Published: 27/08/2023
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This article discusses the problems that come with rapid growth. While quickly scaling a business is a goal for many, it can be very risky for your future success if not managed properly. We aim to offer advice on how to avoid harm by overextending yourself.
You’ve just onboarded a new client - congratulations! However, your team’s faces show little joy, even though this is the third major client you’ve secured this month. What’s there to celebrate? The business is performing well, you’re scaling rapidly, and things look promising, so why the long faces? The answer is simple. Your team is struggling with all these new projects coming their way, and being told they have yet another isn’t exactly good news. Despite being seen as a goal by many, rapid scaling can actually harm most businesses.
Quick results are rarely sustainable. The growth spur is often a one-time flair rather than a steady process, meaning it will stop as soon as the resources required for it are depleted. This is essentially what happens to rapidly scaling businesses too - they hit a dead end. But let’s take a closer look at it and what you can do to prevent it.
There are many risks involved when businesses expand too quickly.
They start spreading themselves out too thinly;
The workers get burnt out quickly;
There is less time to build more personalised experiences for clients;
The quality often suffers;
Priorities shift from values to revenue.
In other words, it isn’t as wonderful as we are led to believe. In reality, it can be harmful to businesses in the long term because they risk their very identity. That’s what our next section covers - how to keep your business authentic.
Every business exists for a reason beyond just making money. Often, that reason is what unites the teams, motivating them to work towards a shared goal. Sadly, both can be lost when growth happens too quickly. Awareness will help you prevent that.
The idea that the customer is always right is both outdated and harmful. However, when you are rapidly scaling, it’s very easy to focus on pleasing clients while neglecting your team. Remember, they are the main reason you have clients, and it's their hard work that has allowed you to grow. In other words, your team is the foundation of your success. If you fail them, your prospects are severely compromised.
Ensure you contribute as much as possible to creating optimal working conditions for your staff’s wellbeing. If feasible, introduce practices such as flexible working or a hybrid office setup to help them achieve work-life balance. Additionally, provide tools that assist in automating some of the more tedious tasks. Overall, aim to lighten their workload as much as possible, consider introducing prioritisation coaching, and develop more efficient, smoother workflows. In conclusion, see your team as your most valuable asset and safeguard them from burnout.
Company values serve as your compass when it comes to steering the direction of our business, how it develops, and how you tackle future challenges. In essence, they should guide your decision-making process. Losing sight of these values won’t just halt the progress you’ve made in scaling; it can also affect the quality of the services you provide. This, in turn, may damage the relationships and rapport you have built with your clients, risking the loss of their trust.
When you’re exposed to larger volumes of work, tighter deadlines, and higher expectations, it’s easy to get caught up in everything, forgetting why you do what you do. The best practice is to have it written down and always visible to you and your team. This could be a large vinyl in the office, a screensaver on a company computer, or whatever works best for you. Your values are what unify your team, shape your work ethic, and influence the experience you deliver to your clients. Staying true to them, even through growth spurts, will only lead to more consistent scaling and improvements moving forward.
If your business is already rapidly scaling, you probably aren’t willing to completely abandon the progress you’ve made. So your priority then is managing the situation at hand. And we are happy to help.
Many companies see quick scaling as a business objective, but this is often a costly mistake that can corner them. Everyone desires impressive results in the shortest time possible, so this mindset is understandable. However, it’s frequently overlooked that a business must be prepared to scale. You wouldn’t place a highly advanced elementary school pupil into a high school class and expect them not to struggle. Although they may be well-educated academically, they will still lack the maturity to interact effectively with their peers. This is essentially the same situation.
With that in mind, you shouldn’t rush growth and instead choose a slower but more sustainable path. You will still be expanding, but at a rate that doesn’t overwhelm you or your team. Unlike rapid growth that often ends just as suddenly due to an inability to adapt to the change, this is a long-term, steady progression. What’s more, once you get the hang of it, it doesn’t really stop. So take a breath and relax. It’s not a race.
Having briefly touched on helping your team with the workload through automation tools, we now feel it's necessary to expand on the topic. Mainly because the market for digital tools is vast and constantly growing. You probably don’t have the time to try them all and want to avoid making a wrong choice, as some solutions are expensive and often billed annually.
The key is understanding what your team truly needs and struggles with. You may have assumptions or guesses, but ultimately, it’s the people using the tool who should have a say. Ask them, preferably directly. In fact, let them be the ones to suggest solutions instead of researching and shortlisting them yourself. Not only will this save you time, but it’s also more likely to yield the right tools. Very often, employees already have experience with the software they recommend, which reduces the training time needed.
As you’ve realised by now, like everything else, scaling a business requires a strategy. While it’s tempting to go after the low-hanging fruit, it’s not always the best option—especially when it comes to growth.
Often, when the workload becomes overwhelming, the first solution companies adopt is to expand their team. Initially, this can be very effective. However, once you manage to clear a backlog with more staff, you naturally start taking on more clients again, and soon, you encounter the same problem. Realistically, many companies are not in a position to continuously expand their teams.
This is exactly why you should choose sustainable growth. As we’ve already discussed, it doesn’t produce immediate results, but what you achieve remains and improves over time. We focus on investing in people, but why not invest in your current employees, their comfort, and success rather than hiring new staff and investing in training them to the level you need? 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 be secondary.
Everyone desires quick results. However, this is not a sustainable way to grow a business. Rapid expansion might seem impressive initially, but it often stalls because your business isn’t prepared for the workload it brings. Instead, focus on slower, quality-focused growth that is steady and becomes a continuous process.
While you need clients to generate revenue and keep your business running, your team should be your priority. However, you don’t want them overwhelmed with client work. Additionally, you don’t want the workload to surpass your business values. Therefore, you should invest in tools that support your team in their efforts, reducing their workload. This is a more sustainable solution than expanding your team every time they struggle. In other words, while quick results can be satisfying, they are not lasting. Play the long game. It pays off.
There’s no hurry. We'll take over for you.