Typically in small organisations when it comes to processes, the focus is on simply getting the job done and moving onto the next task at hand. In smaller businesses, the workforce might start with just one or two or a handful of employees – they generally wear multiple hats and on a daily basis grapple with various different challenges, in different contexts and multi-tasking is the norm. Repeatability isn’t, typically, top of mind due to apparent time constraints.

As the business grows, either one of the following happens – (i) more multi-taskers are added to the mix or (ii) people begin to narrow their focus and specialise on a smaller number of tasks. Both of these approaches can be productive but it is likely that (i) above will at some point result in chaos as everybody in the organisation goes about their tasks in their own way and this can result in the following 10 negative impacts on your business:

• Higher costs – where inconsistency reigns, the risk of error increases and quality suffers – work often has to be repeated and generally productivity is sub-optimal.
• Responsibilities overlap – if everyone continues to do a ‘bit of everything’, nobody is truly responsible for anything and some tasks get overlooked or put on the long finger.
• Unbalanced delegation – existing staff delegate what they dislike about their roles to new recruits. This might favour longer serving staff and may even be a reward for their longevity but in the long-term, it will breed division within the ranks and stifle growth.
• Gaps emerge in processes – If “I thought you were doing it” is a familiar refrain through the organisation, productivity is suffering to varying degrees which impacts revenue and profitability.
• Customers get confused – if a customer encounters a muddled experience in onboarding or after sales service, that inconsistency adversely affects their perception of your brand and leaves them more open to considering alternatives.
• Productivity stagnates – newcomers ‘fall in’ to the habits of other staff members who never truly achieved optimal performance despite good results – everyone looks busy but that does not necessarily equate to being at their most productive.
• High staff turnover – new recruits get frustrated and eventually leave because they don’t understand how things are done or see limitations in their progression opportunities.
• A lack of innovation – people are too busy with ‘everything’ to have the breathing space to focus on doing less things but doing them better.
• Planning is inhibited – it is difficult to plan without an adequate understanding of available resources and the role they play in achieving goals.
• Competitors are closing the gap – robust processes may not have mattered in the early days where a business has first mover advantage or a vastly better product but over the lifetime of your business, your competitors are learning new ways to eat into your market share. Being nimble and efficient with their resources is one such way.

This lack of cohesion has a damaging impact on team ethos and culture. The unstructured approach to work leads to a lack of accountability and ultimately, the lack of structure and repeatable processes will hinder scalability.