We all wish that growth was a steady upward trend - a linear incline towards success, with each customer and employee efficiently building on what you already have. Wouldn't it be great if all you needed to do was show up each day and work hard, using a set-in-place strategy? But is this how it works in reality? Of course not! As a business grows, challenges are going to show up along the way, threatening to slow down - or even stop - your upward momentum.
You've probably experienced some of these challenges already. That new customer called again to complain about his order, the manager you hired six months ago continues to struggle, cash flow inconsistencies trigger arguments between your General Manager and Purchasing, you had to re-do the order your new sales rep missed again, and continued supply chain challenges are creating tension as well as the ongoing influx of employee turnover - just to name a few.
With size comes more complexity, not less. The important thing is to quickly figure out where these challenges are coming from and address the root issue with discipline so you can restore focus on growing with your customers rather than fighting fires.
There are stages to business growth. When your business begins to cross the threshold of one level of growth to another, the challenges you face may change, but the root problem remains the same - you are dealing with growth barriers.
In his book, Scaling Up, Verne Harnish names 3 different types of growth barriers:
- Leadership: the challenge of having the right people in the right seats and developing the key growth skills of delegation and prediction
- Scalable Infrastructure: challenges with systems and structures (physical and organizational - or lack thereof) for communications and decision-making
- Market Dynamics: challenges with addressing the increase in competitive pressure that erodes profits margins are you grow
Verne says (referring to all three types of barriers),
"When you remove these barriers, then that anchor you've been dragging turns into wind at your back ... You can better navigate through those points in the company's growth where you're bigger, but not quite big enough to have the next level of talent and systems to scale the venture."
Understanding that you will encounter barriers as you grow will help you develop your growth strategy. In a given season, one type of barrier needs more of your attention than the others. Your confidence in tackling the issues will vary. We all have strengths and know how to deal with some types of issues. Others, we couldn't pay someone enough to 'just deal with' for us. If this is you, build a team (probably including both employees and outside experts) who have skill and passion for the work that needs done as you grow.
A business bringing in $3-$10 million in revenue with 10 employees faces different challenges than a business bringing in $10-$25 million with 25 employees. At Koble, our goal is to help small business owners and managers better understand the growth barrier of scalable infrastructure (systems) and provide them with advice, training, and software they need to overcome the challenges it presents. Our mission as your trusted partner is to see you gain momentum and build into the future.
"We would not be able to manage our business without [EBMS]. It has grown with us from five employees to more than forty." - Groffdale Concrete Walls
Every business we work with has already tackled some of the first challenges of the scalable infrastructure barrier - the need to automate processes as their team and revenue grow. They've implemented EBMS and brought their accounting, inventory, and sales into one integrated system to align their teams across departments, connect their workflow from start to finish and minimize (or get rid of) duplicate entry. This allows for better communication, higher quality data, and more efficient processes throughout the business.
A higher percentage of those businesses have even tackled the next layer of the systems barrier - they've identified their industry niche, built proven processes, and implemented more EBMS tools that they previously were not using.
These businesses continue to grow, and now they're pushing up against yet another layer of the scalable infrastructure barrier with new challenges. At this next stage, leaders need better, clearer insight into their business so they can make high-level decisions with confidence. More importantly, they need deeper relationships with trusted partners as they implement changes and keep moving forward.
Your goals are important, and we want to be that trusted partner who can help your organization reach its full potential. If you're up against any of these growth barriers, it's worth a conversation about optimizing EBMS and focusing our partnership to keep ahead of the challenge.
Don't let the growth barrier of scalable systems hold you back - we can help you scale past the challenges you're facing with additional tooling and support from our team. Start the conversation with your account manager today.
Additional Resources
- Scaling Past Small Business Growth Barriers, pt 2 | On the Blog
- How do you know when change is necessary? | On the Blog
- Operational Benefits of ERP | On the Blog
- Business Process Consulting
- System and Soul Coaching
- 'Scaling Up' by Verne Harnish | Buy it on Amazon
- ERP for small business
