Editor's note: Al Levi knows what it takes to make your business run with less stress and more success. Contractors, just like you, seek his advice regularly. Al has agreed to let us share with PM readers some of the questions he gets and the answers he gives. The focus is strictly on problem solving and handling the day-to-day operations of a successful contracting business.

To send Al your own questions, which if selected will run anonymously, send  us an e-mail with the subject title "Ask The Experts" to Expert@PMmag.com or fax to 248/502-2110.

Blessing And Curse

Dear Al,

Our company has been blessed with rapid growth, but we’re straining to keep things under control. We keep adding managers and more staff, but that just seems to get things crazier.

Two people do something, or nobody does it.

I find people get confused about whom they answer to, and everyone thinks they’re the boss or they’ve got too many bosses.

What can help alleviate the strain?

Al says,

Congratulations on your rapid growth!

But it seems not much planning or organization has been put in place to manage that growth. You’re trying to throw people at the problem, and without a chain of command, everyone will either think it’s their job or they’ll think it’s someone else’s job. Either way it’s a mess.

The best thing you can do now is to create your organizational chart.

This isn’t the kind of chart that has fancy titles but rather all the boxes it takes to run your company.

The key thing about an organizational chart is that it clearly lets people know who they directly report to, who they can go to for help, who’s responsible, and what long-term positions on the organizational chart they can aspire to fill someday.

The challenge is, when you create the organizational chart, you must respect the chain of command. An example would be: You’re the owner and you see one of the techs doing something wrong, so you’re tempted to say something to him. If you have field supervisors or a service manager, you must respect the chain of command and speak to them about what you’ve observed and let them handle it.

Create your own organizational chart, respect the chain of command, and you’ll soon find the disorganized have become organized, and that’s a good thing for everybody.