Your Org Chart Is the Growth Tool You've Been Overlooking

I admit I get so excited about growth that I want to hire every talented candidate who hits my inbox, regardless of whether Dillon Business Advisors actually needs them. Rachel and I share a challenge every ambitious CPA firm owner faces. You see a great resume, you know you're growing, and the temptation to say "yes" becomes overwhelming. But what if there was a tool sitting right in front of you that could turn that enthusiasm into strategic hiring decisions?

In this episode of "Who's Really the Boss?", we reveal how we've grown Dillon Business Advisors by transforming our org chart from a static document into an active planning tool. DBA’s org chart isn’t a hierarchical diagram we created once and filed away. It’s a working roadmap that guides hiring decisions, identifies capacity problems before they happen, and gives team members a clear vision of their future at the firm.

From Spider Web to Structure

The first step in using an org chart strategically starts with getting honest about your current reality. I never sugarcoat our starting point. If you haven't been intentional about your team structure, then I would assume a lot of the people on the team report directly to you, the owner. It’s like a leader sitting in the middle of a round table, with every team member coming directly to them for questions, approvals, and decisions.

This hub-and-spoke model creates an invisible ceiling on growth. Every decision flows through you. Every client question needs your input. You become the bottleneck that limits your firm's potential.

Rachel and I learned this the hard way. When we first mapped out our team structure, it looked like "a spider web of crazy teams" where one person worked with a completely different team just to serve a single client. We had to rethink the entire org chart and realign it because we had so many teams working together in ways that just didn't make sense anymore.

But instead of just hiring more people, we decided to dig into the data.

Process Before People

When we discovered that some CAS clients were taking six weeks or more to onboard, we knew we had a problem. But was it a people problem or a process problem?

Rachel explains our approach: "We like to look at process first before we start hiring people. But once we have that process, and we have utilized technology, then we can determine if we still have capacity constraints."

By tracking both hours worked and project completion times, we could see patterns. Some team members were overwhelmed, while others had available capacity. The issue wasn't just about having enough people. It was about having the right structure to distribute work effectively.

It starts with a snapshot of today. Start with your org chart as of today. That's your starting point. This means mapping out those awkward reporting relationships and informal communication channels, even if it looks messy. You don't have to share this draft version with the whole team. Keep it close to the chest while you experiment and refine it.

Roles First, People Second

Most firm owners build their organizational structure around the people they employ. At DBA, we took a different path. Identifying and defining the roles first has been a huge step in the right direction for us.

We started with our Team of Three model: Client Service Manager, Client Controller, and Client CFO. We defined each role's responsibilities before we had all the people to fill them. This wasn't just about creating job descriptions. It was about designing repeatable positions that could be replicated as the accounting firm grew.

Put the roles that you want to have on the team. In a perfect world, what would those be? This means creating org chart positions even when they're currently empty. Those vacant boxes are opportunities to pursue.

The reality is messier than the ideal. Some team members may appear twice on your current org chart. For example, a team member’s name appear once as a Client CFO serving specific clients, and again in a growth and leadership role. My name is on the org chart twice. This transparency shows the team where additional support is needed and creates opportunities for advancement as team members can see which responsibilities might become new positions.

The Scaling Test

Rachel has a brilliant way to determine whether a role is properly structured for growth. "Does this role with these responsibilities still work if they have double or triple the volume of clients?"

She walks through a practical example. "If we're thinking, well, they only have ten clients. Yes, they can do the accounting, payroll, and tax returns because there are only ten. That's not a big deal. But then we think about what if they had 30. Is that still doable?"

This test forces you to think strategically about role definition. If someone can handle all aspects of client service with ten clients but would be overwhelmed at 30, you haven't created a scalable role; you've created a temporary fix.

We discovered our Client Service Managers were spending valuable time on administrative tasks that didn't require their expertise. Instead of pushing CSMs to work harder, we created a new role: the CSM Assistant.

Creative Staffing Solutions

These CSM Assistants, primarily sourced through our partnership with TOA in the Philippines, handle repetitive, technical tasks. Their tasks include: pulling bank statements that can't be imported automatically, maintaining fixed assets schedules, recording depreciation journal entries, building amortization schedules, accepting bank feeds, and reconciling accounts.

The skill set of a CSM here at DBA means their time is best spent with either our team or a client. They've grown beyond just reconciling a bank account. By creating the CSM Assistant role, they enabled CSMs to grow from serving 15 to 30 clients without sacrificing quality.

Part-time team members have become another crucial flexibility tool. Our reduced-schedule team members are a good middle ground that's saved us quite a bit over the years. We have successfully used part-timers at every level: CSMs, Controllers, and even CFOs.

Part-timers are a little easier to scale up or scale down depending on what's going on in their life. They provide flexibility when you've identified a need but haven't found the perfect full-time candidate yet.

Building New Service Lines Without Breaking What Works

The real test of organizational flexibility came when we recognized a market opportunity in tax advisory services. With new tax laws creating demand, we saw an influx of high-net-worth individuals and business owners who didn't fit our traditional monthly client model but needed sophisticated tax planning.

Rather than forcing these clients into our existing CAS packages or turning them away, we created a new service line. We hired a Director of Tax and Financial Planning, building a parallel structure to our CAS teams specifically for tax advisory services.

We asked each existing controller a simple question: Do you want to focus on CAS clients or would you prefer to specialize as a tax-only controller? One controller immediately chose the tax-only path, allowing her to focus on what she loved most while freeing up capacity in the CAS division.

Think Wide, Not Tall

Perhaps the most important principle Dillon Business Advisors has discovered is building horizontally rather than vertically. I am passionate about this. We want a very wide org chart. Not a very tall and deep org chart.

This isn't about aesthetics; it's about creating a structure that can absorb growth without creating layers of management that slow decision-making. When you acquire a firm or experience organic growth, you can slot new clients into existing teams or create new pods that operate independently.

Titling your org charts based on revenue is a great practice. The org chart for a $3 million firm may be where you start. Then if you're looking to grow to $5 or $6 million, consider what that would look like. This forces you to think about growth in stages. The structure supporting a $3 million firm looks fundamentally different from one supporting $6 million. It's not just twice as many people doing the same things.

Making It Real for Your Team

We plan to unveil our completed org chart at our November retreat. This is a vision-casting moment, as team members will see where they fit today and where they could grow tomorrow. Those CAS controllers juggling non-monthly tax clients will see those clients moving to a dedicated team. Team members will see new positions they could grow into and new service lines they could help build.

Look at your team and see who you have today and start to map out those goals that you have. What would a future team look like? This isn't about minimizing the people or relationships. It's about using the org chart as a tool to better serve your team and your clients.

Rachel extends an invitation to anyone needing help with their org chart journey. "If you have questions or you start through your org chart and want support thinking through future positions, our team at Collective by DBA would love to help." You can reach out through their website or contact Rachel directly at rachel@dillonadvisors.com.

Listen to the full episode to learn how to stop seeing your org chart as a static document and start using it as the strategic planning tool it can be. When you map roles before hiring people, use creative staffing solutions, and build for horizontal growth, you're creating a foundation for sustainable scaling that benefits everyone on your team.