Evaluate different management structures and understand how to scale approval processes effectively. Empower employees to make decisions, ensure timely processing of approvals, and establish KPIs for annual employee reviews. Engage in monthly stakeholder communication, conduct retrospectives to understand employee turnover, and commit to health, safety, and environmental sustainability practices.
Entire industries have been created around helping businesses find the best way to make decisions, and oftentimes this leads to massive bottlenecks and bureaucratic overhead. There are certainly decisions that must be made with due care and consideration, but probably not as many as you think.
In small companies, a single key stakeholder often approves everything, ensuring alignment with the organizational vision and strategy. However, as the company grows, this can lead to bottlenecks - or "approval hell". One approach that addresses this is to have multiple people responsible for a specific approval. This ensures a clearly communicated system for cross-authorization.
Many organizations start out with a flat management structure, valuing its simplicity and direct communication lines. However, as they grow, the lack of hierarchy and defined responsibilities in a flat structure can lead to confusion and inefficiency. This transition often prompts a critical re-evaluation of management structures, seeking alternatives that can balance flexibility with the clarity needed to scale successfully.
✅ Simplicity - Fewer management levels, often leading to quicker decision-making.
✅ Collaboration - Makes it easy for everyone to raise their voice and feel heard.
✅ Agility - Allows for quick responses to changes and opportunities.
❌ Ambiguity and Role Confusion - Lack of specific guidelines and a clear hierarchy may lead to confusion over roles and responsibilities.
❌ Growth Challenges - May not scale well, as the head of the company can become a bottleneck.
❌ Difficulty in Accountability - Without clear reporting lines, holding individuals accountable for specific tasks or outcomes may become challenging.
❌ Imbalanced Distribution - Can result in uneven distribution of workload, decision-making power, or recognition among team members.
✅ Clarity - Well-defined lines of authority and responsibility.
✅ Vision and Control - Ensures all work aligns with company goals through centralized oversight.
✅ Stability - Established and proven by many organizations.
❌ Inflexible - May lack flexibility and responsiveness to changing needs.
❌ Potential Disconnection - Higher-levels may become disconnected from ground-level realities.
❌ Lack of Influence - Lower-level employees may feel voiceless, lacking the ability to contribute or have a say in decision-making processes.
✅ Reduces Bottlenecks - Distributes responsibility, preventing delays.
✅ Efficiency - Streamlines the approval process, saving time.
✅ Scalability - Adaptable to different organizational sizes and complexities.
✅ Collaboration - Enhances trust and teamwork through clear guidelines.
❌ Implementation Complexity - Requires careful planning and monitoring to avoid responsibility creep or misalignment.
❌ Monitoring Required - Regular reviews and adjustments are necessary to maintain effectiveness.
❌ Potential Overhead - If not well-designed, it may add unnecessary complexity.
Each management structure, offers unique benefits and challenges. The choice of structure should align with the organization's goals, culture, and operational needs. Understanding the pros and cons of each can guide decision-makers in selecting or combining structures that best support efficiency, collaboration, and adaptability within their organization.
Sometimes a senior leader intervenes in an issue that could be handled by someone else who is well-informed and close to the problem. This intervention is not a good idea because it diverts focus from high importance strategic priorities that senior leaders should be involved in. Instead it is better for the senior leader to ask the person closest to the issue to fix the problem, that way they feel empowered and the senior leader can focus on strategy.
Don’t leave people hanging – if you are a manager, ensure you review your emails, SugarLearning, Timepro, or Intranet accounts for items from staff and colleagues to review and approve each day.
When a company is small, Annual Employee Reviews start as a fairly informal process. The head of the company might take employees for a walk, or generally have a chat about different topics.
As the company grows and more people join, 2 problems start to occur:
For these reasons, it's important for all the review managers to get aligned about what topics and performance indicators need to be covered, and to ensure scope is limited.
Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are a tool for standardizing how performance is measured at a company and ensuring employees are aware of what they need to focus on. However, everybody brings much more to their companies than just statistics; KPIs are just a conversation starter.
KPIs also lead to efficient, focused Annual Employee Reviews.
Keeping stakeholders up to date is crucial for the success of any project. Developer teams use Scrum meetings which work very well. For internal admin teams - Scrum might not work as well (e.g. Sales, Accounting). Often admin teams get sidetracked or have tasks that are not definitively measurable, therefore Scrum isn't a perfect tracker of tasks or performance.
To keep stakeholders well informed, these teams should record a monthly stakeholder video. This ensures that stakeholders are aware of the project’s progress, any challenges faced, and the plans for the upcoming month. It also provides a personal touch - stakeholders get to hear from the team directly.
Understanding why employees leave your company is crucial for improving retention strategies and fostering a positive work environment.
An Annual Employment Retrospective helps identify common trends in employee feedback, allowing you to make informed changes.
Creating an inclusive, fair, and respectful workplace is essential for the well-being and productivity of employees. Ensuring the protection of fundamental human and labour rights is not only a legal obligation but also a moral imperative that benefits the entire organization.
Supporting community and indigenous engagement initiatives is vital for fostering strong relationships with the communities in which we operate. By actively engaging with and supporting local, indigenous, small to medium-sized, and regional businesses, we can promote economic development and sustainability.