Designed To Grow
As I’ve said many times in my programs: If you are coasting you must be going down hill. As a growth strategy coasting will cause disaster. I’m watching many organizations suffering from a coast mentality, that like a balloon payment on a mortgage - payment is due and they are suffering the consequences of their slack attitude.
Organizations need to be designed to grow and the leader of that design must be sitting at the top of the organizational chart to ensure everyone in charge of a department has the same design. There are four basic components to organizations that are by design created for constant growth.
1. Have the right talent
Previously I’ve written about how critical it is to attract and retain good talent. But it’s more than just talent; it’s chemistry. The best organizations are finding the talent that best compliments those currently delivering. As you modify your direction, market and productivity your talent must be able to work under the new design. Way too often companies keep talent past their prime, or those employees who no longer fit the new growth strategy. The talent must be nimble, quick learners and willing and able to shift direction as needed. If your talent pool is resistant to change and wants to hold on to old ways, you have built in hindrances to your growth design.
2. Go narrow and deep
One would think that going global means it’s easier to serve many different types of customers well, because if nothing else there are so many more of them. Interestingly, the exact opposite is true. Since we have entered a true global economy, specialization is the growth opportunity. Going narrow and deep is the opportunity for most companies to find greater growth. What is your specialty? What is the niche you serve best? If you had to narrow your products and services by half, what would you keep and what would you let go of? These are actually growth questions. We are in an age of specialization for most industries, and knowing your specialization and then abandoning anything beyond that is the key to successful growth.
I’ve had some clients tell me they aren’t operating globally, in fact they are operating locally, so why abandon products and services? Even if your organization wouldn’t be considered a global player, you still are operating in global economic times and those times have people looking for specialists more than ever before. Gone are the days of the general store (unless you have a global monopoly such as Wal Mart) and now are the days of the specialist. A funny thing when you first take a few steps toward narrow and deep; you find out even after going to what you perceive as a narrow niche that it is often still too broad of a market to serve well.
3. Thrive on a cutting edge attitude
Companies designed for growth accept nothing less than cutting edge thinking. Constantly. Incessantly. From everyone. Corporations realize that information and uniqueness are the opportunities for growth, so they employee all employees in the chase for innovation. 3M found their best selling product, the Post It Note, from an internal glue failure that a chemist just wouldn’t let go of. Companies are putting the most coveted ad spots during the super bowl up for grabs by soliciting the public to pitch ideas for the ad. Many successful companies are not only getting their employees involved in growth ideas, they are soliciting their customers and even the general public. The new mantra of innovation: Mine ideas from any source possible.
The only way growth can happen is if those at the helm are not afraid of measured risk and will be take cutting edge opportunities knowing that some may end up as dismal failures. The music industry has known this for a long time. For ever shooting star band they sign, there are dozens of duds they signed as well. Why do they keep it up if they have so many failures? Because they know cashing in on the fresh sound that works is worth the loss of those other projects.
Cutting edge thinking has many failures but the winners go way beyond the cost of the failures.
4. Maintain your bag of “tricks”
Everyone that is successful has his or her own “bag of tricks” that continues to pay off over and over again. It may be the artful vision of a Steven Jobs or the bold risk-taking of a Richard Branson or the sweat equity and undying energy of a Jeff Bezos, but each has his bag of tricks. What am I referring to?
The bag of tricks is the magical tools you have found to deliver continued success over and over again. I have such a bag and I coach other speakers and CEO’s how to use mine and more importantly discover their own. Leaders are like speakers because they have to find their “voice” and what is it that works for them.
Companies are the same way. What are they known for? What are the unique characteristics that work for them but probably wouldn’t work elsewhere? Successful leaders and successful organizations have their unique bag or tricks/tools/systems/sales approaches that create positive growth.
How well is your organization designed for growth? How well do you apply these four strategies? How do you need to shift your organizational design? Riding the wave of good economic times is a business strategy of the past. Design your organization to be growing in any economic times is the opportunity you are now being presented with and can no longer coast by.
Russell J. White, CSP is an author, international speaker and consultant. He is president of Russell J. White International and founder of The Edgewalk Institute where his cutting edge ideas assist businesses in strategic planning, branding, leadership development and growth strategies. His most requested keynote and forthcoming book
Tags: balloon payment, best compliments, global economy, going global, growth opportunity, growth strategy, learners, many different types, mentality, mortgage payment, niche, organizational chart, productivity, slack, specialization, suffering, talent pool
