Growing Pains

Yes, the summer is now officially over and so far, the year 2006 has been a good one.  The economy is in relatively good shape, many firms in the A/E industry are operating at 110% of capacity and profits are strong.  Many firms have grown this year by 20% or more in terms of revenue and employees, everyone is hiring and the backlogs keep increasing.

With all of this success also comes some growing painsand your management structure may no longer effectively support your growing organization.  The systems and strategies that have brought you so much success and growth may very well be keeping you from getting to the next level.

Do any of the following sound familiar?

1.      All of a sudden, your 20% + profit machine is slipping to the 12 to 15% range or worse.  You rationalize that you are making it up on volume, but in your heart you know that the mismanagement of increased volume is costing you money.

2.      Monthly invoices are not sent until 3 weeks after month end and you are unsure if it is the process, software, accounting personnel or something else that is the root cause.

3.      The rapid growth has strained your cash flow.  What was once a healthy bank balance has dwindled to a dangerously low level to accommodate the rapid growth.

4.      Your office is over-crowded and you are searching for more office space.

5.      For the third time this year, you are purchasing additional AutoCAD licenses.  (see item 3 above)

6.      Your computer network is sluggish and your telephone system is at capacity.  Both need serious attention - but you are not sure if your IT staff is up to the task.

7.      You continue to take any project that comes through the door regardless of fee, staff availability, project type or questionable client history.

8.      Even though you have record backlog, you are still concerned that not enough people in the company are marketing oriented.

9.      You are personally overburdened with both project work and administrative tasks.  You are also struggling with the short-term pain of delegating as much as you can - but cannot seem to let go.

10. You and your partners disagree over whether growth is a good strategy.  Some partners never wanted the firm to grow at all.  They are perfectly content the way things are.  In fact, they wish the firm was smaller - just like the good old days.  Other partners (maybe you) have always seen controlled growth as necessary part of building a successful business.

11. You wonder how you got here and what the future may bring.

What can you do about it?

Over the past year, many of my clients have been struggling with the pains of rapid growth.  In short, what has made them successful is not what is needed to keep them successful.  If this sounds like your company, this is the perfect opportunity to take a time-out and reflect on what is working, what could be better and where do we want to go from here. 

In other words, I am talking about a strategic planning session.  In my experience, there is simply no better way to take control of your firms destiny than to spend two days planning for your firms future.

Successful firms retain a facilitator exclusive to the A/E industry and take the time (2-3 days every year) to develop a simple plan of where they want to go and how to get there. The result of the session should be a simple action plan that articulates the companies goals, assigns responsibility, assigns deadlines for action and has a mechanism for follow up.

I personally facilitate about a dozen strategic planning sessions each year and assure you that the results can be outstanding.  Years later many of my clients look back on the strategic planning session as a transformational event in their company's success.  If your company hasn't held a strategic planning session, you owe it to yourself and your company to give it a try.