Each stage of growth requires rigorous evaluation and adjustments to these four areas:
- Re-Evaluation of Market Focus: Will our current customers and geography provide the stability and returns we are looking for at the next stage of growth throughout the inevitable economic cycles?
- Organizational Structure: Stages of growth are all associated with the need to insert another layer of management.
- Operational Processes: With the growth and changes in organizational structures the workflows, tools used and processes will need to be refined or changed all together.
- Leadership Focus: Most importantly the leadership focus and supporting systems including communications and compensation has to change to support each stage of growth.
With proactive leadership you can grow at a sustainable rate minimizing the variability on profit growth and stress levels on the team. Perspective is difficult for everyone when they are in the middle of a growth stage and especially if you have never been through this stage of growth before.
