How to create an organizational structure for your moving business

If you started your business alone, then everything was up to you for a while. But you can’t get used to that – as your business grows, you will need to hire more people. At that point, you need to start thinking about how to create an organizational structure for your moving business because every business needs one eventually. It will help you organize your employees better and become more efficient. And that’s not all – MoversTech CRM for movers can also help you get organized and work faster, after all; an organizational structure has the added bonus of giving your employees clear roles and instructions, which makes them more comfortable and confident in their work. So there’s really no reason to keep putting off structuring your business!

Why is it important to create an organizational structure for your moving business?

Perhaps you’ve been in a business for a while and feel like creating an organizational structure now would be a waste of time. Or maybe you prefer to be a friendly boss who doesn’t have strict rules. Either way, if you’re wondering whether you really need an organizational structure in a moving business – the answer is yes. Whether you like it or not, every moving business needs and has a structure. Not everyone will have access to project management software for moving companies – only those in charge of managing the project will. Someone will be the point person for certain tasks. New hires will turn to someone for help when they don’t know what to do. All of these are elements of a structure.

An organizational structure can develop organically. But it’s better if you’re in charge of it. Here’s why:

• clearly defining positions and roles will help you hire the right people to fill them
• your employees will have a better grasp of what is expected of them
• people can become experts at what they do when they have the right focus
• having people to turn to in specific situations will foster good communication among employees
• quality control will be easier with operational rules in place

Create an organizational structure for your moving business in five steps

The task of creating an organizational structure may sound intimidating. But it need not be – you probably instinctively know how you want your business to work already. So how do you turn those instincts into a proper system?

Learn from the past

Whether you’ve been in the business for 10 days or for 10 years, you have some experience that you can learn from. So take a closer look at your past successes and failures. Which teams have worked well together? Which individuals have shown themselves trustworthy in positions of power? Are there any on-the-spot solutions that you should turn into regular business processes? By examining the organic organizational structures that are already in place you can learn what does and doesn’t work well for your business.

Decide on the type of structure you want in your business

How simple or complicated your structure is will largely depend on the size of your business. But your preferences will also play a role. How many people do you want in a team? How many managers per team? Will the managers have managers or will they only be liable to you? Should you use different organizational systems for different departments? For that matter, how many departments do you need?

Most businesses organize employees by function. This typically results in three large branches – sales and marketing, operations, and finances and administration. For a small moving business, this division is often enough. But as your business grows, you may need to create sub-departments, each with its own leaders. So don’t think the structure you set up now is set in stone.

Establish rules and guidelines

No matter how relaxed of an atmosphere you want to create in your business, you need to set some ground rules. Some of the most basic guidelines include a code of conduct, a dress code, and operational instructions. All of these may seem obvious to you. But they won’t necessarily be obvious to your employees. So make sure to communicate what you expect from them. In addition to the hard-and-fast rules, remember to think about the unwritten rules – the culture you’ll be fostering in your company.

Distribute the work optimally

Once you’ve defined all the different roles and what they need to do, it’s to fill the positions with the right people. When choosing someone for a vacancy, there are two things you’ll want to consider: their work record thus far and their personality. A good mover won’t necessarily be a good team leader if they don’t have the authority, patience, and skills for that. So don’t just consider experience when filling positions; consider whether this is the right person for the job.

Finding the perfect fit isn’t always easy. When you manage to find the perfect person for a position, it’s important to keep them in that role. So invest in employee retention as well – it’s always faster, easier, and cheaper to keep the same employees and just teach them new skills than to hire a whole new person.

Make communication easy

Moving is rarely solitary work. You’ll usually need at least a few movers per relocation, sometimes more. Furthermore, those movers will need to work well together. A certain amount of trust and cooperation is necessary when you’re lifting heavy sofas together and maneuvering long staircases with dozens of pounds of weight. So you should strive toward creating a connected workforce. The best first step you can take to achieve this is to encourage good communication.

Make it easy for your employees to get in touch with each other – provide everyone with an internal communication system or at least give out a list of phone numbers. Then, make it clear who’s the right person to contact in which situation. That way you will avoid a lot of hassle, wasted time, and frustration.

Some things to keep in mind as you create an organizational structure for your moving business

The most important thing to remember as you create an organizational structure for your moving business is that the system you set up needs to respond to the needs of your business. If you have 20 employees, you can’t put 10 of them in leadership positions. If you only hire movers, you can’t build a marketing department. And if your business has expanded to new locations, your current managers can’t do the work alone anymore. So ask yourself what kind of system will make your business better.

Not only will your business become more efficient with the right kind of structure, but your employees will be happier too because they’ll be more confident in the work they’re doing. Finally, keep in mind that the needs of your business will change over time. So be flexible and make sure that you regularly examine and, if necessary, update your organizational structure.