If you’re a startup, the last thing on your mind is probably the organizational development chart. It’s often created as an afterthought. That’s because there are so many other pressing concerns.
Issues such as raising startup capital, choosing a location, and hiring a designer to craft a logo take center stage. And there’s also the rush to recruit talent.
With a laundry list that long, it’s no surprise some essential organizational decisions are overlooked in the hubbub. Yet those early decisions on organizational structure can saddle a fledgling business with inefficiencies and bottlenecks down the road. Within a year or two, the first small cracks in the business model begin to show, but everyone is too busy dealing with a myriad of other details to pay much attention.
It’s somewhat akin to planting a sapling without the proper stakes to support the young tree. When the wind blows this way and that way the mature tree grows into a contorted shape. Business processes just don’t seem to work right.
It’s amazing how a different perspective can remove those blind spots to inefficiencies in your business operation. But that begs the question: How does a busy CEO get an unbiased read on how his or her company is functioning? How can those blinders be removed so as to reveal weaknesses?
That’s where peer support comes into play. Each CEO of a successful company knows his own fundamental business processes inside and out. But a particular CEO may have some blind spots simply due to the day-in and day-out familiarity of running a particular company. A CEO of a paint company, for example, can miss the obvious warning sign that the CEO of a grocery chain can easily spot a mile away because he has been down that road before and knows where it leads.
Whatever you choose to do, it’s important to give your org chart some serious thought in the beginning phases of your business. Good luck!