Making a business successful in the long term isn’t just achieved by exploring new revenue opportunities. It takes determination and a lot of resilience to overcome many of the challenges that come your way – especially during rapid periods of growth.
The challenges you’ll likely face can be anything from internal communication breakdowns to shifting priorities and shrinking budgets. However, by walking the right path, many of these obstacles can be overcome while still being able to strengthen your business and position it for success.
Common Setbacks Many Growing Businesses Deal With
Although generating more revenue is important, new business growth doesn’t come with increased challenges and dealing with certain setbacks. Some of these can include:
Keeping Everyone Connected
Clear communication strategies are vital for all businesses. However, as an organization grows, maintaining them is often easier said than done. The larger a company is, the easier it is for important messages to get lost in the weeds.
Working in silos is another common issue many modern businesses face, especially as remote working arrangements for employees have become more common. Unfortunately, these silos can lead to poor collaboration efforts and missed project timelines. Similar to how in home renovation projects, if separate contractors aren’t kept in the loop about what each other is working on, it can quickly lead to productivity issues and delay the entire project.
Losing Shared Purpose
The state of a company culture plays an important role in how smoothly a business can move forward. If an organization begins to lose sight of what’s important, various problems can quickly surface and cause efficiency issues.
As a company expands, it is common for some employees to start feeling a loss of camaraderie that they may have originally experienced. Left unchecked, this can start to cause distrust between staff members or lead them to feel like their contributions are minimized in comparison to others.
Team Misalignment
Maintaining consistent alignment in a company is critical. However, being able to find the right balance between new business growth and sustaining company culture isn’t always easy.
If teams fall out of alignment with the company’s short- and long-term objectives, it can start to become a drain on time and resources. Like when preparing a home for resale, having too many contractors work on too many tasks at once and according to their own priority schedule can be a recipe for disaster.
How Leading Brands Have Successfully Navigated Their Growth Challenges
Even though it can seem difficult at the moment when dealing with new challenges presented to businesses, when applying the right strategies, it becomes much more systematic to get through them successfully. In fact, there are many examples of major brands that have proven that with the right mindset and tactical approaches to problem-solving, it’s still possible to avoid lengthy growth stalls.
Below are a few examples of these organizations and what solutions they applied to help overcome some of their own unique challenges:
Apple
Apple has been synonymous with sleek design and groundbreaking technology for many years now. However, to maintain the innovative spirit and risk-taking culture the brand is well-known for, the company has undergone a number of significant changes throughout its history.
Regularly competing with other top technology manufacturers, Apple has consistently re-evaluated its company culture to remain true to its vision and adapt to evolving consumer preferences.
Seeing that its previously rigid organizational structure could potentially limit employee engagement, the company embraced a more collaborative approach that prioritized open communication and cross-functional teamwork. Employees were encouraged to contribute their ideas freely and were assigned to smaller, more agile teams where they could focus on specific projects.
These changes helped to establish a sense of project ownership for more employees, allowing them to feel more connected to their work and the company’s overall mission.
Ford
While hard for many to believe, even automotive giants like Ford Motor Company have experienced significant setbacks on their path to success. Over the years, Ford has faced fierce competition from rival automobile manufacturers and the constant pressure to continuously innovate and adapt to changing market demands and customer needs.
Early on, various challenges started to emerge as Ford’s assembly line automation increased in scale and started to become more advanced. This, unfortunately, quickly created a disconnect between engineering teams at different factories and led to a number of inconsistencies in both design concepts and final product execution.
To address this, Ford implemented cross-functional teams at each plant, making sure there was an even balance of expertise originating from engineering, design, sales, and marketing teams.
By encouraging this collaborative approach, they enabled more effective problem-solving throughout production and distribution. This shift fostered an environment that valued diverse perspectives and a wide range of opinions.
Zappos
Zappos, a well-known online retailer, is no stranger to the challenges businesses face when trying to compete in e-commerce. Regardless of that reality, the company has successfully positioned itself online while maintaining exceptional customer service and providing a fast, reliable shopping experience.
However, Zappos’ rapid growth over the years wasn’t without its challenges. As their team expanded, departmental silos quickly emerged and started to limit effective communication and collaboration across teams.
To overcome this obstacle, former CEO Tony Hsieh implemented a unique “Holacracy” system which decentralized authority and decision-making across self-organized teams.
This shift allowed employees to be more accountable for their own work, allowing them to keep the customer’s experience central to all decisions being made. Unnecessary approvals and back-and-forth communication were eliminated, and processes became much more streamlined over time.
Building a More Resilient Business
Putting together a capable team is crucial for sustaining your business growth, but it’s rarely a straightforward path. By drawing inspiration from successful brands, you can navigate the inevitable obstacles that arise as your business grows and make sure your team remains aligned and focused on your core vision.
