Building Blocks of Success: A Small Business Structure That Shines

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When you started your business, did you get super jazzed about the organizational structure or the flow chart of responsibilities for each role? Did you dream of different departments and write out workflows? How about the chain of command and the intricacies of the flow of communication?

Wait, what? You DIDN’T?! You were too busy dreaming about serving people in a way that would better their lives? While simultaneously doing the thing you’re really passionate about?

Good, that’s what you were supposed to do!

As entrepreneurs, we can have our head down, working hard and not come up for air at times. All of a sudden, we’ve got a team of people and there’s more intricacies to our business than we might have ever dreamed could have happened. Remember, this is a blessing. This is a reflection of our business doing well! However, we’ve got to remember to pay attention to this and stay organized from the beginning. It’s really important to build a solid foundation, take care of the wonderful people that took a chance on our dream and pivot when we need to.

Even if we don’t have a full-on team (yet), we need to think in terms of what a team looks like so we can make sure all the bases are covered. Each business has different needs in terms of what their team structure is, but it’s important to think a step ahead and understand what roles need to be filled, even if team members are wearing more than one hat.

 So, what the heck could this potentially look like for your business? Well, we are firm believers of the Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS). This small business organizational set up can be found in Traction by Gino Wickman. We have integrated this system and have been reaping the benefits since we made the decision to follow this structure.

 Let’s talk about the foundational roles of the EOS for small businesses:

• Visionary

• Integrator

• Departmental Managers

• Team Members

Visionary

If you are the owner, founder or CEO of your small to medium sized business, this is most likely you. You are the one that dreams big. You are willing to do whatever it takes and may have even been known to call this business your “baby.” When you started this business, you were wearing all of the hats: operations, sales, marketing, customer service, fulfillment and the list goes on. The details may not be the absolute most important thing to you because you are thinking about the bigger picture, here. This whole thing was your idea in the first place (or you’ve come on as someone who closely identifies with the vision for this business) and you can clearly see where you want the business to go.

Pros:

• Big dreamer

• Creative

• Optimistic

• Innovative

• Resilient

Challenges:

• Lack attention to detail

• Resistant to change

• High level risk taker

• Solely future-focused

• Don’t prefer differing opinions

Integrator

The Integrator is most likely your chief of operations. They perfectly balance out the Visionary. While the Visionary leader has full reign to dream big and not particularly pay attention to the details, the Integrator takes that dream and makes it a reality. The Integrator is the glue that holds the Visionary and the rest of the company together. This person is just as passionate as the Visionary about the company and its mission, but thinks in terms of processes, lists and workflows in order to get things done. The Integrator leader is the manager of the managers and has the unique ability to take an idea and turn it into a plan. It’s like they are fluent in two languages: dreamer and doer.

Pros:

• Process-oriented

• Organized

• Realistic

• Holds people accountable

• Strategic

Challenges:

• Balancing the Visionary’s vision w/ the realities of the day-to-day

• Keeping everyone in check

• Not getting too into the weeds of the day-to-day

• Challenging the Visionary

*Pro tip: Check out Rocket Fuel by Gino Wickman & Mark C. Winters to take a deep dive into the relationship of the Visionary and the Integrator.

Departmental Managers

The Departmental Managers are the leaders of the organization. These people hold the unique position of being a part of the leadership team while simultaneously holding the position of leading their respective departments. Not only does a manager need to be a team player, but also a leader that can teach, inspire and demonstrate the necessary skills to be a rockstar in their specific corner of the company. These unicorns are the chief of operations for their specific department which means developing goals that align with the overall vision of the company, managing budgets, hiring, training and supervising, heading up the creation of policies and procedures within the department and monitoring the performance of their team. As a part of the leadership team, the department manager must also be able to collaborate & communicate effectively with other departments to bring the vision to fruition.

Pros:

• Being a leader

• Having influence in the company culture

• Being a teacher

• Collaborating with other departments

• Delegating tasks

Challenges:

• Wearing many hats

• Jumping in when understaffed

• Developing positive conflict resolution

• Working with managers that have differing leadership styles

• Keeping employees engaged

Team Members

The team members that work diligently each and every day to further the mission and vision of the organization are the LIFEBLOOD OF THE BUSINESS. These are the wonderful people that complete necessary tasks like answering the phone, packing orders, stocking shelves, scheduling appointments and even cleaning the bathroom. DO NOT SLEEP ON THESE LOVELY HUMANS. Some employees are team members that are leaders in the making. As leaders of the business, it is important to inspire team members to work hard, have integrity and always pursue excellence. Even if some team members do not aspire to lead one day, it is imperative that we still pour ourselves into them with education while demonstrating the core values of the company. No one should ever leave our company without gaining something that can carry them on to their next stop in their life.

Pros:

• Opportunity to learn

• Opportunity to refine specific skills

• Builds resume

Challenges:

• Limited decision making opportunities

• Limited control over responsibilities

Every single person that makes up your business is a human that has thoughts, feelings, and lives to live. They have goals and aspirations. We owe it to these wonderful people to give a few minutes thought to the organization of our team and define the roles we need within our business. Diving into the roles, listing out the responsibilities of those roles and matching people to those roles will create a sense of unity among the organization in addition to ownership for each individual involved from the Visionary to the Team Member.

*Pro tip: Check out Team Meetings that Shouldn’t be an Email to take this structure one step further!

The foundational act of mapping out the organizational structure will ensure that, as leaders, our eyes are open to what roles the business needs in order to drive the mission. As always, if we start with a plan, we can tweak that plan as things grow and change instead of wasting time creating a totally new structure every other week (or flying by the seat of our pants with NO structure in place!). You owe it to yourself, your team and your sweet baby (your business) to put the pieces together so you can serve the world in the way you were designed to!

Need some guidance on creating a plan and actually putting it into action? Check this out.

So, now what? The biggest factor in achieving your big, lofty biz goals is creating a foundation from which you can jump to the heights of your version of success. We’ve got a few FREE tools for you to help make that happen!

Money makes the world go ‘round, right? We’ve got you covered on making an organized plan, sticking to it and giving each dollar a name in your business. We’re talking FLOW OF MONEY so you know where each dollar should go and how to pay yourself, figuring out your MONTHLY FIXED INCOME + EXPENSES and how to track them, combing through your year to discover your NON FIXED EXPENSES so they aren’t a surprise, plus an ANNUAL BUDGET WORKSHEET to map out all the aforementioned pieces to finish off your Biz Budget Template puzzle.

The great work you’re doing doesn’t matter if no one knows about it, right? LET’S TELL THE WORLD! But let’s be strategic about it, ok? (After all, “strategies” is in our name!) Enter stage right, the Content Calendar Template. This is where all that hard work of yours gets to put on a show for your audience and open the doors to new audience members. In this free download, we have the entire year built out for you. Whether your creation starts from a blog, a social media post, a podcast episode, a pin on Pinterest, or an email to your community, we’ve got you covered on organizing all of your content. Each week across all of your marketing channels is going to be strategically scheduled to save you time and create a beautiful cohesiveness that your audience will love, no matter what platform they find you on. We know you and we know that there’s always a method to the madness; so put that madness to work and get organized around putting your content out in the world!

Ahhhhh, your cozy spot on the internet…. Where the colors are your favorite, the pictures make you smile and the words on the pages are your voice speaking to your kinda people. We’re talking about your website, of course! Whether it’s intricately designed, a single landing page or somewhere in between, we’ve got you covered on allllllll the things you should pay special attention to. This free downloadable checklist includes reminders & reviews like link checking; UX design; category, page title and image alt text optimization; brand cohesion; and lead generation & SEO integrations. Whether you’re wearing the website designer hat in your business, or want to make sure your web developer is doing everything they’re supposed to, the Website Audit Checklist is for you!