As your business grows you may well find yourself having to take on multiple roles, from accounting to marketing to human resources. Many leaders will struggle trying to master the act of juggling all the tasks involved of these various roles, and as a consequence this increases the likelihood of making costly mistakes. Remember you are only human and there are only so many hours in the day. Take some time to assess where you need additional support for your business. Your health and well-being are also vital to the success of your company.
Set yourself realistic growth goals based on your capability not opportunity and recognise the importance of your talent. For growing businesses when things are operating smoothly you can forget how important HR is, that is of course until you find yourself coming under fire
Human resources
Your staff are essential to your organisation and are integral to it’s successful growth. It is therefore vital that you get your management right from the very start. You need to be able to trust your managers and delegate responsibility to them in order to free your time to spend where it is needed. If you don’t get your HR in order your business will suffer.
Don’t downplay the significance or the impact of HR problems within your business. When many of us think about companies that have made big HR mistakes, we’re quick to jump to the assumption that it’s all the fault of greedy bosses, who are more interested in lining their own pockets than doing the right thing by their loyal employees.
For example, mistakes with administrative processes that result in employees receiving their wages far later than expected. Can be perceived as a ploy so the business can keep hold of their cash for as long as possible.
Employees forced to give up their holiday entitlement because of a last-minute crisis? Probably a crafty trick concocted to make sure that staff are worked to the bone.
Disgruntled staff who are vocal about their negative experiences at work? Well, there’s no smoke without fire.
We’ve all seen the stories in the press, often sensationalised for the purpose of selling more newspapers, and we’ve made our own judgements about the moral standing of those in charge. Sometimes though, it isn’t black and white.
Let’s not get it twisted… Legislation exists for a reason, and for the greater good. As an employer, you have a responsibility to make sure that you’re compliant, that you’re implementing best practices, and that you’re doing everything you can to create an environment that’s fair and nurturing for your workers.
But mistakes can happen, and even the most dedicated and ethical employers can find themselves facing extremely difficult circumstances.
When your business is growing fast, and you have a million and one things to balance, you can take your eye off the ball. You can overlook important details. And you can find yourself facing circumstances that you never imagined, but which can put your entire business in jeopardy.
At this stage, what really matters, is what you do next, and how you decide to put things right. If you’re worried that there could be an HR nightmare on the horizon, you need to create an action plan that gets things back on the right track as quickly as possible.
Growing a business is never easy, but you can avoid some of the growing pains by making sure you have a clear HR strategy.