Effectively Navigating the Stages of Growth

Optimizing Capacity to Grow and Prosper Without Overwhelm and Burnout

Stages of Growth

The Stages of Growth are based on a 6-year study of entrepreneurial companies and interviews with over 650 CEOs by James Fischer, author of Navigating the Growth Curve. Fischer’s research identified 7 Stages of Growth based on complexity caused by additional people:

Stage 1: Start Up (1 - 9 employees)

Stage 2: Ramp Up (10 - 19 employees)

Stage 3: Delegate (20 - 34 employees)

Stage 4: Professional (35 - 57 employees)

Stage 5: Integration (58 - 95 employees)

Stage 6: Strategic (96 - 160 employees)

Stage 7: Visionary (161 – 500+ employees)

Creating a sustainable, thriving enterprise takes time, patience and planning. It also requires intentionality and knowing how to address the challenges associated with each stage. In this article, I will primarily address the issues associated with Stage 3 (20 - 34 employees). Fisher’s research discovered that this stage proved to have the highest incidents of burnout and overwhelm.

First, An Overview of The First Four Stages.

Stage 1: You must generate, track and preserve cash and focus 80% of your resources on selling the 2 - 3 offerings with the best margins.

Stage 2: By now you may have one or two employees that the company has outgrown. Replace them with employees who can become top talent and to whom you can begin delegating specific tasks.

Stage 3: This stage has the highest incidence of CEO burnout of any stage of growth. It is time to start letting go so you have time for managing, delegating and team building. Your attention must be on getting staff buy-in and closing the leadership/staff communication gap.

Stage 4: This stage requires a focus on experienced managers who “have been there, done that.” This isn't the time to think about saving money by hiring inexperienced managers.

Now, let’s Focus on Stage 3. Growing companies are either headed for Stage 3 or still there. Others may have moved on to other stages but have not yet addressed essential issues.

The Stage 3 Company—20 to 34 Employees

At this stage of growth, it’s typical to experience a staff revolution. The first indication a company has entered Stage 3 is the realization that the leader can no longer hold all the strings and be in control of the organization entirely on his/her own.

Optimizing Executive Leadership Capacity

The CEO of a Stage 3 company and beyond must develop the following Skills and Capacities:

1. The ability to empower, delegate authority and develop managers.

2. The ability to see the need and manage the growth to optimize his/her executive effectiveness.

Executive Effectiveness

Peter Drucker, the greatest management thinker of the 20th century and author of The Effective Executive, taught that anyone who is charged with making important decisions is an executive and must become highly effective or the enterprise is at risk of failure. Further, executive effectiveness requires mastery of a specific set of skills and habits.

In his 2005 Harvard Business Review article, “Managing Oneself”, Drucker said, “Success in the knowledge economy comes to those who know themselves, their strengths and values, and how they best operate.”

Where to Begin

Develop the #1 Effective Executive habit Peter Drucker taught, “Until we can manage time, we can manage nothing else.”

Take the FREE Time Management Diagnostic with a personal phone debrief to discover how to . . .

• Reduce Productivity-Draining Interruptions
• Eliminate Overwhelm and Reduce Stress
• Prioritize What’s Most Important
• Reduce Information Overload
• Delegate More Effectively
• Reclaim Your Life

Now, click the link below to respond to the Time Management Diagnostic, free www.effectiveness.com/tmd/

? 2019, Effectiveness, Inc. Contact: [email protected] | Phone: 919-439-5811

About Bob Moore, CMC? Bob is a Certified Management Consultant, Business Growth Strategist, and The Effectiveness Coach? who guides CEOs and profit-center executives through the complexities of growth so they can grow and prosper without overwhelm and burnout.