6 Challenges Female Founders Face... And How To Solve Them (Part 3)

This is Part 3 of a 3 Part Series. Click here for Part 1 and here for Part 2 of the series. 

I took a whirlwind trip to Monterrey, Mexico this week for a conference on missional businesses and to hear about the power of impact-driven entrepreneurship globally. 

While I was there, I had the joy of meeting and hearing from people who are seeing real transformation in their business growth, for their team members, and the communities they serve. 

If I had any doubt about how important it is to be truly grounded in your vision for the world and the way your business can be a proactive part of that, I wouldn’t after this weekend.

Businesses that are focused on making a clearly articulated impact, that have their strategy, goals and objectives, KPIs, team, and stakeholders fully aligned are blasting through barriers and seeing major growth. 

This series is all about the challenges female founders face, and as we dig into the last two challenges, note how important mission, vision, and values are to addressing these challenges.

Business Challenge #5: Difficulty scaling
Scaling often requires significant changes to a business’s operations, culture, and structure, and as growth looms on the horizon - an exciting and sometimes scary prospect - some businesses may be reluctant to make these changes for fear of disrupting their existing processes or alienating their team.

This often looks like failing to plan for the level or speed of growth, not investing in or being strategic about their systems, processes, or technology needs, finding and retaining team members with the right skill set, or coming up short on the financial end. 

SOLUTION

Develop an intentional growth plan.
As revenue begins to increase and your business model solidifies, I often recommend business owners pause to review (or develop) a detailed growth plan, one that’s rooted in their vision, mission, and core values. This allows you to strategically plot out your growth timelines, any necessary increases to team and resources, and better understand exactly what your goals and objectives for the business are. 

Implement the right systems for growth.
Over the last five years, I’ve seen countless businesses throw systems and random pieces of technology at problems. When you have an intentional growth plan that takes into account the entire picture, you can begin to identify which systems you’ll need, how (and if) they’ll grow with you, and proactively bring them into the business. It also opens the door to streamlining your processes and paves the way for attracting and retaining the right people for the job. 

Bring the right people onto the team.
When growth is rapid, it’s not uncommon for business owners to rush into the hiring process out of pure desperation. When you’re drowning in work, you just want someone to help, but bringing in the right person for the job takes time and intentionality. When you have an intentional growth plan in place, you can proactively identify which competencies and skills are required, build a rock-solid interview process, and put the resources in place to offer a competitive salary and benefits. 

Lean into the change.
Easier said than done, I know, but a huge part of scaling is willingly embracing the changes that are coming your way. This could involve restructuring your organization and the way information and work flows to the team, adopting new systems and technology and taking the time to learn it well, and/or refining your customer experience model. By being flexible and adaptable, you can position yourself for success as your business begins to change.

Business Challenge #6: Difficulty attracting and retaining team.

I’ve talked to countless business owners who’ve lamented about the difficulty of finding right fit team members. There are a whole host of reasons why small businesses may struggle to attract and retain top talent, including the founder struggling to delegate or properly identify exactly what skills and capabilities are truly needed to move the business forward, lack of competitive salaries and benefits, questions about their upward growth potential, inadequate work-life balance, and feeling disconnected from meaningful or impactful work. 

The impact, of course, is shuttered business growth, potentially a decrease in service, and you, as the founder, bearing the weight of it all.

SOLUTION

Get clear on the competencies needed.
As the business leader, you have to be clear about the skills, capabilities, and competencies that are needed as the business grows. With clearly defined job requirements and competencies, you can better assess a candidates' qualifications and ensure that the person you’re bringing onto the team has a clear understanding of their roles and responsibilities, expected outcomes, and how their performance will be evaluated. This results in better performance, happier team members, and ensures there are no lapses in client service delivery. 

Offer competitive salaries and benefits.
I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention this. To attract and retain top talent, you have to offer competitive salaries and benefits packages. As the younger generations are entering and claiming their space in the workforce, they are demanding (as they should) a true living wage, the ability to work autonomously and in a way that allows them to enjoy life, and benefits that meet their needs. If this isn’t an area of expertise for you, I encourage you to reach out to a fractional HR team to help you conduct market research and put together compensation packages in line with industry standards.

Be clear on your business mission and provide meaningful work.
The data is incredibly clear on this. Nearly 70 percent of employees say they wouldn’t work for a company without a strong purpose. A further 60 percent would take a pay cut to work at a purpose-driven company. That’s incredibly significant and offers some latitude when you have a strong and clearly articulated mission and vision for the world. Research by Deloitte shows a clear link between employee alignment with company social impact values and higher worker engagement rates, lower turnover, and improvement on other measures of business health. 

The opportunity to really dig into your business’s purpose and weave it into everything you do is a powerful hiring and retention tool.

Foster a strong, growth oriented company culture.
Businesses with a strong mission often foster a positive company culture that is supportive of their mission and empowers employees to go the distance on issues that matter to them. The workforce is demanding more transparency, collaboration, and recognition of employees who embody the company's values. In fact, 90% employees who work at companies with a strong sense of purpose say they’re more inspired, motivated, and loyal.

Provide opportunities for growth.
You can tell from the data and likely your own personal experience that growth, connection to mission, and the opportunity to develop are important differentiators. In fact, when compensation and benefits are lower, providing your team members with opportunities for mentoring, training, and leadership opportunities, will help them feel more invested in their work and again, ensure they feel valued, and keep them connected to a work that matters. This is an invitation to dig into your company values, look at your mission, and the impact you’re trying to make in the world, and then get creative about how employees can be a part of and benefit from it. 

Over the last three weeks, we’ve tackled six challenges female founders face and ways to proactively address them. You may have noticed an important and powerful theme: having a strong mission and purpose is absolutely vital to business growth activities, and it often helps address, at the root level, some of the biggest pain points you might be experiencing. 

When you’re connected to your purpose and mission, you easily gain a renewed sense of focus and direction, are able to align your investments, resources, and talent with intention, and can achieve sustained growth and success over the long term.

If you’re at a juncture in your business growth where something feels missing, where one of these six challenges is creating a negative impact, let’s talk. You don’t need to drown in frustration, overwhelm, or indecision. 

Here’s to making an impact!

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

Are you on the road to entrepreneurial burnout? Take the assessment.

The Ultimate Systems Bundle: 4 Systems Every Business Needs

10 Questions to Reconnect With Your Mission and Align It To Your Business Strategy

The Purpose Scorecard: How clearly defined, articulated, and embedded purpose is in your business?