When entrepreneurs are growing a business, they may often use the phrase "wears many hats." Employees are often taking on many different tasks to remain agile on the path to profitability. As more employees are hired for specific duties, small teams develop. While these teams focus on the demands of their responsibilities, success is found when they continue to work together.
When owners are considering the right time to hire employees, the decision might be made depending on where the business is in the five stages of business growth:
In the Survival stage, for instance, the company has customers but may or may not be profitable enough yet to hire more people. During the Success stage, the founders must ensure they've created a team or teams to continue to profit or pivot to something else. These teams must then build out the foundation for the development of the company and its workplace culture.
Learn more about the five stages of business growth here and here.
When is a Startup Considered a Real Business
The initial teams or departments that typically develop within the survival and success stages of companies are:
Depending on the type of business and the functional relationships between these teams, the organizational structure could be customer-focused, product-focused, geographical-focused, and more.
At this stage, employees may no longer wear many hats, as each department has ownership of its own tasks and responsibilities. To ensure growth and success, however, collaborative teams can still work together to build a better company with happier employees. For example:
Learn more about the economics of collaborative teams here.
This collaborative model of departments working together improves morale, builds a positive workplace culture, and offers greater flexibility within the organization. With happier employees and increased agility, the business has a better chance of innovating and keeping their customers thrilled too. The phrase, teamwork makes the dream work, really does seem to apply when growing small businesses.