A Champagne Problem

Many of you are experiencing some significant growth—very exciting! The high-level story usually starts with a leadership team focusing on sales; who are our best customers? How can we make our PM’s and Foremen more knowledgeable and accountable about their jobs? What are our clients’ pain points and how can we minimize them? We’ve seen many clients dig into the data using Power BI reports, adding Cost to Complete tools, and dig into budget-to-actual reports.

Of course, the success of landing more work brings the next challenge; labor! To keep these new contracts and receive future work from these new clients, the current work has to be done well. To make the expected margins, it has to be done efficiently and on time. Hiring, training, and retaining staff, both in the field and in the office, takes a great deal of focus, too.

More than one client has commented that when they’re super focused on building the backlog, it’s difficult to stay in touch with the team and keep the hiring momentum. When they’re focused on team members and finding the right people, it’s easy to let go of the gas pedal with regards to sales.

We’re seeing many of these companies choosing to expand the leadership team. One or two people just can’t keep the laser focus on all these aspects while also running the field. As the company grows, there may be more overhead labor, and the roles of the owners may change. It’s tough for an owner who knows everything about all their jobs to come to the realization that with growth, this just isn’t possible anymore. Choosing the right people that you can trust (and verify) to take these roles is challenging, as is letting go. You may need to learn new skills yourself!

I’m reminded of a Darren Hardy example. He was sharing a story about a friend who had started with her company and worked her way to the top. She was smart and successful, but she was frustrated and overwhelmed. As her responsibilities grew, there just wasn’t time to get everything done and keep the high standards. Darren’s advice? He said the problem was that she was too competent! When you know how to do the work, it’s tempting to just ‘do it yourself.’ When you don’t know how, you have no choice but to rely on others and come up with ways to double-check and confirm. In this case, she knew how to do all these things, but that’s not what she should be doing. Her job had changed and she needed to allow others to handle these tasks. Sound familiar?

When we hear people talk about ‘growing pains,’ we often think of field and office labor, long hours, hiring woes. Many companies now realize there are other ‘growing pains’ to consider including changes in leadership roles. Knowing this is a new journey, some companies are choosing programs like Traction or Scaling Up. Some are even hiring coaches to help them walk through this journey. These methods also include reviewing procedures and processes; do they still make sense or even apply anymore? Are new tools or resources needed? Very exciting, but daunting since all of this is new!

A reminder that these are ‘champaign’ problems! It’s a journey and an opportunity for growth for you and the company. We would encourage you to join an industry association or peer group; attend workshops; consider membership in CFMA or something similar; meet with us for an IT check-in regarding hardware and software; consider a business coach or method.

And don’t forget to celebrate the successes and milestones along the way! A ’cupcake Friday’ brings some much needed fun AND a treat. On a personal level, a champaign toast to thank your family members for their support. – CMW