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5 Pitfalls to Avoid When Scaling Your Business

Feb 14, 2022
If you're an Entrepreneur and your business is growing - Congratulations! That's cause for great celebration. And as your business expands, making the transition from the primary "do'er" to the role of a high-impact, influential Leader, is an absolute necessity, because the simple truth is that the bigger something grows, the more demanding it is to maintain. Morphing your role can be a minefield obstacles and challenges. So we've mapped out 5 of the most common pitfalls Entrepreneurs fall into when scaling their business to help you navigate this critical transition brilliantly. Let's get to it...
 
  1. Delegate Too Much Too Soon: If you've been carrying too much for too long and feel like you just can't keep going, it's especially easy to fall into this one. When you finally bring someone new onboard to help ease your workload responsibilities, you might hire someone, anyone, who is willing to take some of the tasks and responsibilities that you've noticed are holding things up. And that's a beautiful thing. Don't get me wrong. But the pitfall I see happen too often is assuming that person can and will handle what you've asked them to do and then quickly turning your attention to the next issue. The fatal error is not establishing an accountability structure that keeps communication flowing and expectations at the forefront of everyones mind. For delegation to go forth and prosper, it must be accompanied by a clear understanding of expectations and continuous positive accountability.  Without this dynamic duo, you're just letting go of responsibility, rather than transferring it into worthy hands. 
     
  2. Turning Friends into Employees: Whether a friend joined you along the way or the early few employees became fast friends, one of the toughest challenges of you transitioning to a high-impact Leader may be for your friends. When you've worked side-by-side with someone as a buddy for any period of time, it can be difficult for them to see you and therefore defer to you as their boss. This particular pitfall can be grossly magnified as you bring more people on board who witness a lack of respect that turns into a bigger morale issue.
     
    Understand that your team seeing you as their leader and boss is not an ego "thing" to be avoided. It's a necessity and a cornerstone of highly effective, agile organizations. There's a time for discussion and hearing ideas, but when a decision is made, everyone needs to MOVE and get their job done. Building that kind of responsiveness into a corporate culture requires respect and great morale. But you can help your friend-employee navigate this transition by a.) helping them understand the tremendous influence they can have on how others receive you as a leader, b.) communicating the value of their ongoing support and contribution of skills and knowledge to the organization. 
     
    As with so many aspects of leadership, overcoming this particular challenge relies on you to maintain clear and consistent expectations of every employees responsibilities being fulfilled and a continuous system of positive accountability (see cSuiteAchievement Concepts regarding Positive Accountability).
     
  3. On-Again, Off-Again Initiatives: One of the biggest enemies to both scaling business and team morale, is the on-again, off-again, on-again implementation of new initiatives. What I mean is, the big, new operations / sales / management strategy that promises to fix all of "our problems," that's all the rage for a month or two, and silently fades into oblivion, without acknowledgement or communication from leadership. Until, once again, a new panic spurred by missed targets, a drop in customer satisfaction, dwindling sales, the cycle begins again. It goes something like... "We've got to fix this now!" And then the NEXT big, new strategy or effort is rolled out with energy, excitement, and promises.
     
    Warning: As the leader, you only get a few passes at this "rally turned slow fade" cycle before losing credibility with your team (you've heard of the boy who cried wolf?). Some trial and error is expected when growing a new business and a new team, but when this cycle of failed efforts happens silently or becomes chronic, it will kill morale and undermine your authority. You will have lost the trust of your team and frankly, made your own job of leading much more difficult. Consistent leadership style, clear expectations, and positive accountability are the foundation of a powerful, agile business culture that will trust and follow when you need to make a shift. A leader that can maintain the trust of his team to rally responsiveness, can create an Agile operation capable of sustainable growth.
     
  4. Expecting Anyone to Care as Much as You Do. I can't tell you how many times I have worked with a highly motivated, savvy leader who utters the sincere phrase "I just wish they cared as much as I do" about... fill in the blank here. 
     
    Observation #1: They don't. They won't. Even in a situation when there are 50/50 business partners, I often see one partner driving the business much harder, being more committed, more hands on than the other. That's not necessarily a bad thing. Hopefully, if you have a business partner, they bring other attributes to the table that compliment your own. But understand that in almost every case, YOU care more about the success of your business than any other human being on this blue marble planet.
     
     
    Observation #2: Once a leader believes Observation #1, they are empowered to take full responsibility for employee engagement, morale, accountability and performance. Getting caught in the cycle of wanting others to care as much as you do for the success of the business, and expecting them to carry out that "care" in a particular fashion, is a futile endeavor. You will become disappointed and frustrated, and tension will inevitably arise between you and the subject of your expectation.
     
    Of course, there are preemptive steps you can take to avoid this pitfall; 1.) Choose the right personality for each role as the opportunity to fill a position arises. Someone who compliments the corporate culture, brings expertise in their area of their greatest contribution to the business, plays well with others, and respects (and ideally, admires) you as the leader of the operation. 2.) lead each employee to take full ownership and grow to a passion for their own exceptional performance in that role. That is influential leadership at its finest.
     
  5. Allowing Momentum (Alone) to Dictate Growth: In some wonderful situations, entrepreneurs find that their business is growing at a pace that may be hard to keep up with or sustain. Demand driving urgent growth. While this season of manic work and growing affirmation of your value may look like all that you'd hoped for, it can lead you off track and over a cliff.
     
    I remember one client in particular, a highly successful business owner, approached me after I had spoken at a seminar and shared the story her business growing out of control, putting such a strain on her, that she "had to shut it down." By the time she came to me, she had restarted the business and the demand for her services was already growing out of control - again. She was exhausted - again. She felt trapped - again. And didn't know what to do next - again. My first goal in our conversation was to clarify what she really wanted to get out of the business - her long term vision for the business. She gave me a gut honest, exasperated response. "I don't have time for that pie-in-the-sky, fluff stuff - I just need to figure out what to do with all these new clients calling in. I can't keep this up. I don't think I can work at this pace much longer."
     
    Entrepreneurs tend to become great at solving the problem at hand. It's survival, short-sightedness out of necessity. But that short-sighted powerhouse of problem solving needs to be joined with a long-term focal point in order to successfully scale your business. What I mean is, that necessary, but stubborn entrepreneurship grit was now holding this business owner captive, strangling growth and causing medical level exhaustion. As for my response? It really caught her off guard... with the same gut honesty that she had shared with me, I said, "so why don't you just shut it down again." Long pause. Silence. A slightly antagonistic approach on my part perhaps, but we got there... eventually. Once she digested the shock and caught her breath, she said "because I want to help as many people as I can and I enjoy what I do."
     
    And there it was... the first two of her Long Term Goals, 1.) to help as many people possible and 2.) continue to enjoy her work. No fluff. No pie-in-the-sky. Just the basics of her vision. She laughed, mumbled "touché," enrolled in the cSuiteAchieve Fast Track program and saw her life and business transformed. Now, her business is thriving, growing with strategic intention, she's helping more people than she every thought possible, all while feeling less stressed out, and enjoying her life and a sustainable business. What she once referred to as "fluff stuff" is now the foundation of every business move she makes.
     
    Gain clarity of what matters most to you and your business at the forefront of every business move. Know what you want to achieve in the long game for you and your business. Know what contribution you want to make to your community. Write it all down and refer to it OFTEN.
Scaling an Entrepreneurial endeavor into a thriving business is not for the faint of heart. But if you've gotten this far, you really can make it happen. For more information on Achieving More in Your Business in Less Time and with Less Stress, reach out cSuiteAchieve. We're here to help.

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