

—John Cave
Westhaven Worldwide Logistics

Organizational Charts

Does your business have one?

Isn't it surprising how many businesses are run without any structure: "We are still small—that can wait!" For me that always begs the question: How much growth do they anticipate?

Anyway, it sounds true when you are small with something like five employees, right? But think about it: What happens the moment you add one single employee? Does everyone know who has what responsibility? Are communication channels clearly defined?

The solution, no matter how small or large your business is quite easy: Just create a chart! But instead of having it match your current situation make it future compatible! What I mean by that is plan ahead like you do with everything else in your business. Have the chart match where you see your business in three or five years down the road.

Then, instead of putting down the names of specific employees—you put down roles. Instead of re-drawing the chart every few days or weeks—all you have to do is re-assign employees to roles; making adding or removing employees a simple task.

Surprisingly you will find that most companies have names in their charts...

Using roles, you provide your employees with a clear structure that doesn't change for a long time.

Remember: Structure Follows Strategy

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