Adding Capacity to Your Business

increase work capacityA side effect of a growing business is often declining capacity. You could have a great vision and strategy but unless you have the capacity to execute that strategy, you could:
  • Burn out yourself and your team
  • Encounter missed opportunities
  • Make mistakes when juggling priorities
  • Under service existing clients

An often ‘go to solution’ for adding capacity is increasing headcount, but there is so much more to consider. If you purely add people, you may be missing some real underlying causes of your capacity issues. Here are four ways to increase the work you can do:

  1. Technology – Investing in technology will provide your business with efficiencies that free up capacity. For example, if you added a person at a cost of $100,000 per year and kept that person for 10 years, that’s $1,000,000! Wouldn’t you rather spend some of that money on technology improvements that will create fewer problems and  work 24/7?
  2. Capability – Improving your team’s capabilities will increase capacity by allowing your employees to delegate more and take on more higher-value strategic activities. Are your people lifelong learners? For example, if you build your capabilities by 20% each year, over a 5-year period you have doubled what you can do. That gives you more capacity to focus on strategic initiatives that improve your business.
  3. Process Improvement – What are the 20% of processes in your business that create 80% of the value internally and for your clients? For example, when was the last time you reviewed your processes? Have you flow-charted them? Have you looked for omissions or duplication? Will the use of technology improve your processes and thereby create capacity? Technology and process improvement go together, and some of today’s biggest innovations are seen in process digitization. At a minimum, review your key processes annually and include your team in doing so. They are the ones who work with the processes daily and have valuable input on how to improve them.
  4. Headcount – Most grow head count in arrears leading to demotivation and frustration. Instead, do something extraordinary: Grow headcount in advance to ensure your business has the capacity to take on new opportunities and increase growth potential. Doing so will increase your costs, but in the long run this is about retaining your best team members by reducing burnout as well as avoiding decreased motivation and poor performance.

To improve your capacity, involve your team members. Make it fun! After all, this will create a positive mindset that engages everyone to participate. Start slow, with 1 or 2 changes, and track the results. Adjust and check in often to be sure your desired outcome of adding capacity is really taking hold in your business.