Growth & Strategy Conversations
A business that depends on the owner cannot grow past the owner.
Growth tends to arrive quickly and expose every weak spot at once: the order only one person knows how to handle, the records kept in a notebook, the customer who accounts for half of sales. This session helps owners find those weak spots while there is still time to fix them, and decide what to put in place first.
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Scale does not create problems. It reveals them.
When a business is small, one person’s memory, effort and relationships can hold everything together. Double the orders and the same arrangement breaks: mistakes multiply, customers wait, good people burn out and the owner cannot take a day off. By then, fixing the system is harder, because there is no time to do it.
Preparing for scale does not mean becoming a large company in advance. It means removing the few things that would break first, and making a business that can bring on new people and customers without relying on the owner for every decision.
What the session covers
32 topics across 7 areas. Seven areas to check, in the order most owners find helpful.
The Owner Dependency TestWhere does everything pass through you?4
- Decisions only you make, and ones you could pass on
- Customers who deal only with you
- Supplier and bank relationships held in your name alone
- What would happen if you were away for a week
Try the week-away test on one area first, with a person briefed beforehand and an agreed way to reach you.
Writing Down How Work Is DoneSimple routines first.5
- The three or four tasks that go wrong most often
- Steps, checks and who is responsible, in plain language
- Checklists rather than long manuals
- Asking the person who does the work to describe it
- Updating them when things change
People and RolesBuild around roles, not only individuals.5
- What each role is responsible for, and what it is not
- Who is the next person for each key role
- Training new staff in a week, not a year
- How to delegate: clear outcome, clear limits, a check-in
- Pay and expectations that are written down and fair
Systems and RecordsOne source of truth.5
- Orders, stock and customers in one place
- Books that are up to date, and checked monthly
- Keeping invoices, contracts and registrations in order
- Tools that fit the size of the business now, with room to grow
- Backing up what matters
Check with your accountant what records and registrations apply as your turnover and staff grow.
Quality and ConsistencyGrowth should not lower the standard.4
- Defining what good looks like, in measurable terms
- Simple checks at the points where mistakes occur
- Collecting complaints and learning from them
- What to do when a supplier or a batch falls short
Cash and CapacityThe two things that run out first.5
- How much extra work the current team and equipment can take
- What growth does to cash, as worked out before it happens
- A cash buffer for slow payers and bad months
- Spreading customers and suppliers so that none is too large
- Where to find help when capacity falls short: hiring, outsourcing or partnering
A Ninety-Day Readiness PlanStart where the risk is highest.4
- Scoring each area as ready, partly ready or not ready
- Choosing the one or two that would hurt most
- Naming owners and dates for each fix
- A review at thirty, sixty and ninety days
Exercises owners do in the session
- Complete the owner-dependency list for their business
- Choose one task and write its checklist, then have someone else try it the same week
- Score each readiness area and pick the first priority
- Write a ninety-day readiness plan with names and dates
What participants leave with
- The readiness checklist and their scores
- A checklist template for routine tasks
- A role-and-responsibility sheet
- The ninety-day plan
What this session is not
- A software demonstration or a consulting engagement
- Legal, accounting or tax advice
- A promise that the business will grow once prepared
How the session runs
A facilitated workshop of about three hours, in a small group. A practitioner with experience in building routines and teams in smaller businesses walks through each area and gives examples of what to put in place first. Owners score their own business, write one checklist, and draft a ninety-day plan. A short follow-up after a few weeks, to share what worked, is useful but optional.
What your students leave with
- A frank picture of where the business depends on one person or one customer
- The three or four routines most worth writing down first
- A view of which roles, not just which people, the business needs next
- A readiness checklist covering systems, records, cash and capacity
- A plan for the next ninety days, starting with the biggest weak spot
- A simple way to test whether the business runs without the owner for a week
Scheduled sessions
Nothing scheduled yet
Sessions are arranged with a college once a date is agreed. Ask us and we will find the right person for it.
A student rather than a college? See what is coming up, or ask your placement team to host this.
Find the weak spots now, write down the routines that matter, and let the business run without you for a week.
Tell us who your students are and what stage they are at. Sessions are free for participants.