How Businesses Need to Structure and Organize Internally as They Grow

Key Positions to Fill

As businesses begin to scale, they need to identify key roles and hire the right people to fill them. Businesses typically begin in a decentralized manner, with the founder(s) handling everything. But as they grow, scaling requires finding the right people for key positions to handle core business functions like servicing clients. This allows the founder to focus on high-level strategy.

When deciding which roles to prioritize, companies should focus on hiring for positions that directly impact revenue generation and growth. For example, Account managers and Product managers can help drive leads and increase conversions. Customer success manager positions are also important to ensure high-quality service if your business is B2B.

Technical and product development roles may be needed as well to build upon the business offerings. However, in the early stages, it may make more sense to outsource development work to agencies and contractors so founders can focus budgets on revenue-driving activities.

Documenting Processes

Documenting processes is crucial so that operations aren't dependent on just the founder(s). This allows for smooth training and delegation as the company scales. When processes are documented, it's much easier to outsource or hire new team members to help with the workload.

The key processes to document initially are those core to the business operations and service delivery. For example, documenting sales processes, onboarding procedures, support protocols, and product/service fulfillment workflows. Founders should create process documentation in a simple, step-by-step manner that is easy for new hires to follow.

Using process mapping software, like ClickUp, can help create visual workflow documentation. Detailed standard operating procedures and training manuals will serve as important references as new hires are onboarded.

Hiring a Right-Hand Person

Hiring a "right-hand" person, like a Chief of Staff, is very important to help manage the team, communicate the founder's ideas, and maintain culture as a company scales. A Chief of Staff can help ease the transition from an unstructured beginning to a structured organization with defined roles. They assist in identifying and filling key positions, as well as documenting processes to set the business up for sustainable growth.

An effective Chief of Staff has strong project management abilities, communication skills, emotional intelligence, and strategic thinking capabilities. They serve as a bridge between the founder and the rest of the organization.

The Chief of Staff role is so critical that finding the right person to fill this position should be a top priority.

Assessing Team Members

Growing a business requires identifying valuable team members and addressing underperformance. Success depends on smart hiring, whether in-house or through outsourcing.

Each option has its pros and cons, so you need to evaluate needs and resources to determine the best path forward.

Founders should have regular one-on-one meetings with team members to provide feedback and evaluate performance. Setting clear goals and KPIs for each role is important for accurately assessing individual contributions.

Don't be afraid to make tough decisions about letting go of low performers to achieve business growth goals, but first, make sure you are not being impulsive.

6 Tips for Organizational Structure

Here are some additional tips to build an effective organizational structure:

1. Create an organizational chart - This visual representation of roles and reporting lines helps maintain structure as you scale.
2. Implement project management frameworks - Methodologies like agile and scrum can help businesses take a disciplined approach to launching initiatives and products. This promotes organization amidst rapid growth.
3. Schedule regular team meetings - Weekly or monthly all-hands meetings ensure alignment across the organization. This is crucial as teams expand.
4. Build a strong company culture - Defining core values and cultivating a positive culture enhances cohesion and unity even through periods of quick scaling.
5. Get a mentor or advisor - An experienced mentor guides organizational best practices as a business navigates growth. Their outside perspective is invaluable.
6. Allow for flexibility - Structure is crucial, but allow for some flexibility too. Hyper-rigid systems may hamper the agility and innovation businesses need to keep growing.

Wrapping up

In summary, rapidly scaling businesses need to proactively build organizational structures to support growth. Defining roles and responsibilities, documenting processes, hiring key team members, and implementing project management frameworks are essential. With strong systems in place, founders can step back from day-to-day tasks and focus on high-level strategy. This sets businesses up for sustainable success.

If your business is struggling to scale due to organizational challenges, Gobvio can help. We specialize in providing hands-on support to transform companies into structured and scalable businesses. Our services include building efficient systems, optimizing processes with AI-infused workflows, and even recruiting top talent for your team.

Schedule a discovery call today to discuss your startup's unique needs and scale up successfully.