Step 2

Stuck in 2^nd Gear – The Evolution of a Growing Business:

You started your business because you are really good at something – sales, manufacturing, construction, etc. – and are highly profitable at it.  You built a business, hired a team over time and the business grew.  At some point, you began to notice some dysfunction in the organization.  The bigger the business became and the more employees you had, the worse the dysfunction became.  Breakdowns and bottlenecks that never appeared before are now everywhere it seems.  What happened?  You’re not trained in business and organizational development.  You’d find it boring and mentally restrictive.  You hold meetings and put a “fix” on something that’s not working.  But it doesn’t last.  Want to fix it?  Take yourself out of the process.  Your time is much better spent doing what you do best – bringing in business.  Isn’t that why you started your business?  It’s not your fault.  Documenting effective business processes is not your expertise (unless that’s the talent you used to start your business).  You’re a great entrepreneur.  You see opportunities where others see risk.  You act and make things happen.  Do what you do best – grow your business.  You really don’t want to spend a day or two meeting over documenting a process anyway.  That sounds less appetizing than having your gums scrapped to most entrepreneurs.

Your Employees – Cavalry to the Rescue:

Taking your business to the next level requires you stepping out of role as “the company fixer.”  We collaborate with your employees to identify and eliminate the dysfunctional areas of your operations.  Employees know where the dysfunctional areas are in your business.  They struggle with them on a routine basis.  We get all employees involved in the dysfunctional process together and let them describe the dysfunction from their perspective.  We get them to talk about possible solutions and task them with documenting their part of it.  Everyone gets a homework assignment.  In the end a detailed and well documented process is produced that the employees take ownership of.  This ends the dysfunction and improves employee coordination and morale.  You don’t have to waste time trying to “fix” this anymore.  You have more time to do what you do best – grow your business.   Your job in all of this?  Trust your employees to handle this.  Stop training them to wait for you to handle anything out of the norm.  As rewarding as it feels at times to save the day, you’re making yourself an employee of the business rather than the owner.  Want more time to do what you want?  Trust and empower your employees to handle things.