Do you ever wish you had another couple of hours in your day to spend with family or do something you love? As a business owner or manager, you will understand that your time is a scarce resource and that you’re under constant demands for attention. Post-COVID, this continues to be a reality for many of us, whether it is coping with influx of new business or pivoting to take advantage of new markets or opportunities.
As we head toward the New Year, reviewing your current organisational structure with a business adviser will be critical to freeing up your time in 2021, as the right structure for your business will keep you supported.
What departments make up a business structure?
In virtually every business, there are ten departments. For many small business owners, however, they juggle multiple departments on a day-to-day basis. This can be stressful, and at times demoralising, as you feel forced into looking after an area you don’t enjoy or understand. Getting your structure right allows you to delegate some of these responsibilities to someone else.
So, what are the ten departments and their key functions?
- Shareholder (finances the business)
- Director (maximises shareholder value)
- Leadership (implements the plan effectively)
- Product/service development (develops products or services for sale)
- Operations (generates cash)
- Marketing (generates leads)
- Sales (converts prospects into customers)
- Finance (manages the cash)
- HR (engages the team)
- Admin including IT (maximises efficiency)
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In you run an average SME New Zealand business, it’s likely you will only have yourself and perhaps a small number of managers to look every department, i.e. each manager will have more than one area to oversee. In a larger organisation, the departments may be divided into service or product lines.
An organisational structure diagram can help show how this looks for your business and who is managing each department. Do you have a diagram? If not, use the above department headings and fill in details for your business.
Formalise departmental functions, roles, and responsibilities
Once you’ve set out your structural diagram, think about the function of each department and the roles they require. Each role will have a list of responsibilities attached to it which form the basis of a job description. Remember that a role may not be full-time, and could be outsourced too, e.g. BDO acts as virtual Chief Financial Officers for many businesses, your IT requirements may be managed by an external provider, etc.
From here, you are now in a position to identify which departments you as the business owner can delegate. It could be a chance to empower an existing team member, or perhaps it’s time to establish a new position. Delegation, with appropriate accountability mechanisms in place, is a powerful tool to free up your time resulting in less stress.
The benefits of formalised organisational structures
The benefits of a clear structure are many, including:
- clarity of roles and expectations,
- no department gets neglected,
- less risk of burnout,
- increased efficiency, and
- a clear pathway for progression for team members.
Finally, thanks to a proper organisational structure, not all problems will fall on the owner’s lap. Team leaders or managers skilled in their specific areas can deal with problems more efficiently, freeing up your time to do what you love and keep growing your business!
Refine your organisational chart with BDO Wellington
Taking action to enable change is critical, so if you would like personalised assistance to develop or refine your organisational chart and develop the roles and responsibilities, contact BDO Wellington about our organisational review and workshop services today!