It can be exciting and reassuring when your new business venture achieves growth and success. However, it can also become hard to manage and keep under control. When things reach a certain threshold, you may no longer be able to oversee everything as a business owner. Despite the challenges, you still want your business to produce a consistently high standard of goods or services. Here are some key things to consider in order to manage the development of your business.

Key performance indicators:
As your business expands, determine some key performance indicators (KPIs) to evaluate certain tasks and how you will get regular data for each. This can help to inform business decisions that will continue to facilitate your organisation’s growth. Some examples include:

• Absenteeism: by creating a great working culture and attendance perks, you can encourage your staff to take less time off.
• Sales: offering bonuses or other perks to employees who exceed sales expectations could improve overall performance.
• Complaints: Implement a system for dealing with complaints individually. By examining their causes and providing solutions, you can make changes in your business to ensure they don’t happen again.

Develop your skills:
In addition to making changes that improve how your business operates, you should also focus on adjusting your own leadership style. For example, you may realise that you need to develop your skills in managing people, business innovation, or attracting second-stage investment to optimise your business’s growth. In areas where you recognise you could improve on, think about delegating tasks to your employees to maintain growth. Brainstorming with your staff and other advisors may open you up to different perspectives and insights, facilitating a diversity of ideas within your organisation.

Anticipate competition:
Growth will inevitably attract competition. If the growth of your business begins to take away your competitor’s market share, they may implement strategies to counter your success such as lowering their prices, increasing advertising or adding new products. Be prepared for this and pay attention to the other businesses in your market. To continue the growth of your business despite the competition, you may consider solutions such as customer loyalty programmes, or contracting clients for a fixed term.