Thoughts on Scaling Your Business & Handling Growth
This blog post comes with a pretty large caveat: I don't consider myself even close to an authority on this topic.
Most of the time I feel very lost when it comes to managing my team, ensuring we continue to grow and improve, and hold the standard that allowed the business to get to this point. I'm literally learning as I go.
It was only four years ago that AHP was still a one-person operation (just me). Now, our staff is approaching twenty. We have grown 200% from just three years ago.
If you're an entrepreneur who is past the start-up stage, I'm going to share some thoughts on what has worked for me thus far, but more importantly, I'm hoping you can learn a little from my mistakes along the way.
- Apply extreme ownership to management.
Your team is not falling short. You are falling short by letting them fall short.
Maybe a lighter, but just as true, way of phrasing it comes from Dr. Seuss below:
It's on YOU.
2. Fully realize that what got the business to here, won't get the business to there. "Life is growth. Business is growth. You grow or you die." - Phil Knight
For me this was (and is) really difficult. The skills that allowed the business to grow, will not be the same skills that take it to the next level.
For me, in the beginning, and really for quite some time, I was able to develop really deep relationships with each one of my athletes. I could go to all their games, check in with them all the time, etc. Now, with over 200, how could that be possible?
I really miss those days, but now my energy needs to be devoted to helping develop our coaches and systems to best serve all of our athletes. (While still doing my best with as many of my kids as I can).
Start at the end. Work backwards from there to your current state and identify the skills you need to develop and leverage in order to trek the proper path forward.
3. As a leader, you may not be liked all the time. Set the standard, and hold people accountable.
"When setting expectations, no matter has been said or written, if substandard performance is accepted and no one is held accountable - if there are no consequences, poor performance becomes the new standard. Therefore, leaders must enforce standards." - Jocko
This was difficult for me at first, until one day it finally dawned on me: I needed to apply the same principles to my staff as I had to my athletes. Care about them, help them develop, and if you end up forming a close relationship and friendship - awesome, but ultimately you're not their friend. You have to be ok with that.
You can't, unfortunately, always be nice if you want to uphold the standard.
4. "Leaders lead the way." - Major Dick Winters
Don't ask any staff member to do something you wouldn't be willing to do yourself.
5. Create an inspiring vision and empower your team to get there together.
"If you want to build a ship, don't drum up the men to gather wood, divide the work, and give orders. Instead, teach them to yearn for the vast and endless sea."
6. Money is simply a byproduct of excellence.
I think our work environment is a pretty special place. You'd have to ask my staff personally, but I'm really proud that AHP seems to be a fun and rewarding place to work.
Since I was a little kid, I've always watched this version of 'A Christmas Carol' on Christmas Eve. For years now I've had this quote on the whiteboard of my office:
"It's not just for money alone that one spends a lifetime building up a business. It's to preserve a way of life that one knew and loved."