You’ve successfully started your company – congratulations! This big first step takes a lot of smaller steps to achieve. Your company has goals in place for your growth and expansion, whether that’s increasing brand awareness, expanding your product line or services, or broadening the geographical reach of your organization. Yet, even with the best of intentions, plans don’t always go exactly as we want. In some cases, growth might not go as anticipated or in the order, we had planned. How can your company manage growth? Here are some things to consider when planning for and managing your organization’s growth.
Have the right team at the helm.
Even with the best products and services, companies cannot run on those items alone. A great team that works together to manage growth and prepare for the future – both the good and the bad. FullStack has put together a few great posts on finding the right candidate for the position, creating company culture, and keeping teams motivated.
Keep your company in check.
During the early stages of growth, reflection on where your organization has come from and potential forecasting is very important to ensure you’re team is on the right track. Some important questions to consider are:
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Can we deliver our products/services to enough customers to keep our company going?
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Is there an opportunity for expansion to serve one new customer/client base?
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Are our finances in order for future expansion? Can we fund new products or services?
Create SMART goals.
Although most company leaders understand the value of setting and maintaining goals, its important to understand how to set goals that are useful to the organization. SMART goals are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Time-framed. When creating goals, consider each of these items to ensure you’re creating a goal that is beneficial to your company’s future.
Sources:
https://hbr.org/1983/05/the-five-stages-of-small-business-growth
https://www.sage.com/en-us/blog/seven-ways-to-manage-business-growth/