Today, I provide tips for businesses seeking to improve recruitment and hiring, and how to create and update your organizational chart and architecture.
In Part 1, I discussed Total Cost of Ownership and provided tips for managing cash flow, as well as basic strategies for marketing and sales. In Part 2, I discussed how taking time to regularly set and rank your priorities is key to better planning and time management skill development.
Finding the Right People
Hiring is a huge source of frustration for many companies. It is costly, time consuming, and often just a total roll of the dice. Instead of going through that typical frustration, begin by asking yourself the following questions:
- What are the roles you need to fill to deliver on your company's mission?
- What skills do those roles require so that you can deliver on your mission?
- What is the culture you are building? Your values, your mission, and what are the traits of people who align with those?
From the answers to these questions, you can begin to prioritize the key roles you need to fill now and in the future. Additionally, you can begin to create or update detailed position and candidate descriptions that explain what each role does, and the ideal candidate for each role.
Managers and leaders have to ensure that the various skills and personalities of a team are able to deliver the desired outcome for that team or business segment. This is made much easier when every team member knows their specific role, and is a good "fit" within the overall balance of the team and the company values and culture.
As your business grows, roles will evolve and be added while others may no longer be needed. It is critical that you anticipate and plan for your staffing needs, just like your cash needs, and the best tool for this is our next item: organizational architecture.
Organizational Architecture
Creating your organizational chart and architecture is perhaps the single most important thing you will do as a business owner. That chart shows you, in its finished form, what your business looks like and how each element functions as part of the whole.
Creating that detailed organizational chart and architecture early on will make many other managerial and leadership tasks simpler. When you have a clear picture for your business's growth, AND know in detail what that business needs in order to function at a high level, all that is left to do is get to work on building that business!
When founders and key leaders have an organizational chart from which to work, many other problems are simplified or cease to exist. For example, frustrating questions like, "who is responsible for that?" cease to be asked when everyone is clear on their role within the team, and the company. A high-quality organizational chart tells us everything we need to know about the business, and who is responsible for business or corporate outcomes.
A strong organizational chart is a tremendous asset for both accountability and sustainable growth.
There are several great titles in the Ascent Reading List that will help you develop and refine your organizational architecture if you need some help getting started.
About the Author:
Matt Beckmann is the Founder & Managing Director of Ascent Consultants. In addition to experience as a former Chief of Staff to the Missouri Auditor and as a Corporate Vice President and General Counsel, he has advanced training and certifications in law, business, coaching, athletics, and leadership. His blog content, inspired by his deep passion for unlocking his reader's best potential, consistently equips business owners and individuals with the knowledge and resources to overcome obstacles that may be hindering growth.
Ascent Consultants provides business and strategy consulting, executive and leadership coaching, and leadership assessments. By converting client growth goals into an actionable "game plan," we help companies and individuals unlock their full potential.
