James Caan: Avoid the growing pains when you bring in extra managers

Our small business agony uncle gives his advice on expanding a companies' management structure.

Dear James

My business is growing quickly, and having read what you have said about needing experienced people to scale a business, I am doing this. What would your advice be on the hierarchy and structure? I don’t want to overcomplicate things for the people already there and I still want to track what is happening.

Alexander

Getting experienced and talented staff into the business is crucial for you to scale. You do need a clear management structure; this not only eases the lines of communication but also gives your employees an idea of the career path available. However, I believe in making the structure as flat as possible. The reason for this is the decision-making process.

Having layers of management involved in important decisions is acceptable, because you want to make the right decisions, but you don’t want an organisation with too many channels. This will simply stifle any growth ambitions you have as decisions will take too long.

You also don’t want the senior managers to be too controlling over everyday decisions. The more decisions made locally, the more your business will grow.

Filter the decision-making down the organisation. Be sure to have good checks and reporting structures so it is easy to track what is happening.

In my business I ensure that each department has a clearly defined manager who collates the week’s activity from their team. These managers then send weekly reports to me, and every Saturday morning I go through all the reports. I would advise that you do something similar.

Finally, it is important to explain to your staff why there are additional layers of management. They need to buy into your vision for growth.

James Caan is offering up to £500,000 to the next Recruitment Entrepreneur. For more information visit www.recruitmententrepreneur.com