LIFE CYCLES, Part IV
Continuing our dive into the VMA growth model, next is the People Dynamic—non-owners working in the company, including the talents they possess, their character, business acumen, and both ability and willingness to learn and work together as a team.
In the “Me” phase, there are usually just a handful of people in the business, but as the company grows the number could extend into the dozens. Regardless, the key is to attract the right people for the right positions.
Since many owners of “Me” companies have little experience with hiring people and they exhaust their pool of family and friends pretty quickly, they may benefit from enlisting the help of an HR professional or a recruiting firm to assist. Plus, it’s never too early to start formalizing the recruiting and hiring process with job descriptions, on-boarding and training programs and other hiring procedures, which are key to continued growth and success.
Many of the people in this early phase may not remain with the company long-term, so it’s critical that their actions align with the company’s vision and mission and that they’re committed to producing quality work. This is also when teamwork among workers becomes critical and where potential supervisors and managers start to emerge.
Executive Dynamic. This dynamic is the owner or owners, regardless of how many there are.
Small businesses are reflections of their owners. This means the quality of their products or services, their people, their customers, their financial performance, and even the way their workplace and equipment are maintained reflect the owners. Just as importantly, the speed at which the company grows and its ultimate size are formed by the owner’s capacity for change, risk, and their physical and emotional comfort.
For an owner, balancing the demands on their time and priorities along with developing the skills to lead a growing company rather than just operating one are critical. Having these priorities clearly defined and written will help balance the demands on the owner’s time. It’s also important to have a written business plan that is communicated to the appropriate people in the company.
While a company’s culture grows in importance along with the size of the company, its seeds are planted by the owner in the “Me” phase. This is where successful owners start building trust and a healthy work environment by taking responsibility for their actions rather than blaming other people or events when things don’t go well.
While a company’s finances are reported on income statements, it’s the owner who determines the frequency and accuracy with which these reports are produced, so they are as much a reflection of the company’s financial performance as they are a report of the owner’s financial discipline and maturity. Establishing solid financial habits in the “Me” phase is key, rather than later when bad habits are far more costly for the company.
In the early years, all employees report to the owner, but toward the later years of the “Me” phase, owners usually find themselves relying on trusted employees to handle some of the supervisory load, as we’ll discuss in Part V of this series.
