One thing about being a small team is that everyone on the team must be excellent and efficient. There isn't the same kind of room for growth and development as there is in larger companies, simply because there are only so many people to do the work, let alone have time to train and retrain new people. We'll talk about how to make that work later. But today's main point is that small teams have pros and cons. A con for us this week: we lost a team member.
For larger companies, this may not be as hard a hit. When you're a team of less than 10, it feels like a gargantuan task to manage. Because when someone leaves, the work still has to be done by someone. And when you're tiny like us, the replacement process is... a lot. And the backup is typically [insert drumroll here]
Me.
So what does that teach us? To grow a bigger team? To get larger to accommodate for this inevitable need? Not necessarily. But it does teach me a couple of lessons I'd like to share.
Be intentional about who joins and how. When we first started hiring, I hired for help. There was so much on my plate that many jobs were just "if you could do this part for me, I can figure out the rest". But I've realized (with help) that the goal is really to empower team members to take the whole role out of my hands, not just select tasks. That means when we hire, we need to be diligent about their ability to do the thing, be proactive about how that thing is used in the company, and communicate the delivery of the thing internally and externally. It means a bookkeeper needs to understand how to review the first draft of financial statements, and not just how to categorize and reconcile. The senior accountant needs to understand how results will be communicated to the client even if they don't interact with them directly. We have to only hire people who not only do their role with excellence, but understand and prepare for the next steps.
Even if the immediate team is small, all of the "departments" of larger companies need to be accounted for. One of the thing I'm most worried about when it comes to hiring is how much of me is required to bring on the right person. I am HR (recruiting, hiring, onboarding), IT (hardware, software, troubleshooting), and Trainer (a human learning management system). And that's because I initially (and incorrectly) thought if we didn't hire someone internally for those roles, it meant they belonged to me. But now we are outsourcing and automating so that I can focus on the stuff that only I can do. To start, we've outsourced IT and legal, and starting a training process in advance of a new hire so that it can be repeated. Next up is outsourcing HR help to step in to manage current team members, and hire new folks when the time comes. Scaling isn't just about growing - it's about having the systems and processes in place to do this again with ease when the need arises.
Cross-training is paramount. Remember when I said I'm the backup? Well, that kind of sucks. It's easy to burn out when you perform your job and all the jobs that support you. And even if you know how, it doesn't mean you should. For us, that meant a restructuring of the team so that there is always a person who knows how to do the basics of what you do. This is where the learning management system also comes into play - if anyone leaves or gets sick or takes vacation, there is more than one person who can step in and get the job done because the steps are clearly laid out. And if you're a team of less than 10 (which is us), you'll want to ensure that there is enough space in each role to take the extra - if everyone is constantly full, there's no way they can also take on additional tasks.
When someone is missing from a small team, it feels personal.
It isn't.
It feels hard. It is.
But what it's taught me is how important the foundation is - no one person can be bigger than the company, including and especially me. Ensuring that everyone knows their part and plays it well is how we win at our mantra - making it easy to work with and for us.
👋🏾 I’m Keila, a passionate advocate for growing businesses intentionally and achieving big results with small teams.
Feeling overwhelmed by the constant push for more? Join me on my podcast, Build To Enough, where we dive into creating sustainable, purpose-driven businesses that align with your lifestyle and values. Together, we can redefine success and find fulfillment beyond rapid expansion.
🎙 podcast | www.littlefishaccounting.com/podcast
📩 newsletter | bit.ly/4fkDGfu
Comments