Business growth is exciting, but with it comes growing pains. While they are a natural part of the journey to success, there are ways in which you lessen their impact and ensure that your business continues to thrive. Here are some of the most common growing pains experienced by businesses along with some advice on how to handle them.
Growing a business often means extra expenses and investments which could put significant pressure on your cash flow.
The most important aspect of managing cash flow is to constantly monitor it. There are many apps and digital tools you can use to manage your finances. They will provide you with real time data access, accurate reporting, forecasting, and bookkeeping as well as the prompt processing of invoices and payments so you have an accurate financial picture of your business.
Good communication is one of the most important aspects of running a successful business but as a business grows, miscommunication can become an issue. It’s important to establish consistent and frequent communication across all levels of your business.
Effective ways to communicate include internal meetings between employees and senior leaders, regular updates on the business via an employee newsletter or intranet and work events that promote the shared vision and values of the company. Encourage feedback from employees so you can be sure messages are being understood.
Running a successful business requires business and financial management that’s efficient and reliable.
Maintaining accurate data is essential, especially if you want a real-time view. Introducing automated and streamlined processes will improve internal controls and reduce risk, in addition to providing flexibility for your evolving business needs.
Ask employees for their ideas on processes and procedures which will improve business operations.
As a business grows, so do employees’ roles and responsibilities. It is important to match people to the right roles based on skills and expertise and also to identify and fill any skills gap. Providing employees with learning, training and development opportunities will increase productivity and improve job satisfaction.
Another option is to outsource certain areas of the business, like finance, which will give you access to experienced and skilled advisers who can help you make better business decisions.
This is ideal for smaller organisations where an in-house team lacks the knowledge or the time to carry out certain finance operations with sufficient attention to detail, or a business leader may be tempted to complete financial actions themselves, drawing their attention away from areas where they can have a greater impact and risk making mistakes and errors of judgement.
Larger organisations that already have an in-house financial team can also benefit from outsourced services, which complement the work already being undertaken and provide some valuable external insight.
As a company grows, the objectives and strategy of the business will often change or evolve. Set time aside to redefine your goals and brand values, and time to communicate them with all employees. To keep employees engaged and motivated it is important to be transparent about what you are trying to achieve, how you plan to succeed and what their roles are in helping the company to reach its goals.
Growing pains are common in any business but by planning ahead to identify problems and taking steps to manage or prevent them, you can keep your business on track for continued growth and success.
At Duncan & Toplis we offer many services that a growing business needs to maximise its chances to get to the next stage in its life cycle. To find out more about how we can support your business with a flexible outsourced finance function, please get in touch our team.
