Changing roles over time
A business evolves through a process of ongoing learning and negotiation. If this is successful, the business tends to grow, becoming larger and more complex in operation and structure, and employs more people. This clearly applies to existing businesses, though you may not yet have experienced it. It is a series of transitions from informal to formal roles, relationships and structures. Significant changes in the roles of founders and others are inevitable as the business develops. Growth occurs through changes in human and social behaviour and relationships, and productive interpersonal negotiations around the enterprise. Different capabilities are required to manage the enterprise at different stages of its development, and people who do not grow with the business may be best advised to leave it.
This negotiated change in roles means that self-sustaining capability can be developed grad¬ually, through people other than the founders taking responsibility for managing the busi¬ness. Developing entrepreneurial and work teams, competent managers and functional