Some Limiting Factors:

These factors often lie at the root of the frustrations experienced by managers and employees:

• Lack of Common Objectives: lack of a clear mission and business strategies that everybody follows.
  
• Managers Doing Subordinate's Work: too often, managers do too much hands-on work, and don't actually manage.
• Undefined Roles: people are unclear of their specific responsibilities and specific measurable outcomes.
• Poor Work Practices: companies are burdened by inefficient work processes that evolved by happenstance.

Fixes That Fail: 

These "solutions" are usually simple, relatively quick, and terribly wrong.

• Work Harder: Doing the same old thing harder won't help, and probably hurts.
• Develop a Reward System: The "doggie biscuit" school of management.
• Discipline/Fire People: As one client said, "What are we going to do, fire everyone?"
• Downsize: Shifting more responsibility to fewer people, without fixing the underlying problems.

The Real Solution: 

If you want to add more rooms to your house, you need to build the infrastructure to support these rooms. Likewise, if you want to grow the business, you need to develop the business infrastructure necessary to support your desired growth.

The type of business infrastructure that you need depends on the stage of your company, and your desired growth. For example, a small startup company might not need written procedures and formal training systems, but a large company with several offices definitely would. One or two people can do marketing and sales in a small company, but growth requires more sophisticated business processes.

That's the real solution.