Making growth a habit!

We all love growth. And why should we not: it's something embedded in the very fabric of the universe. We grow from a few pounds to well over hundred pounds (200 in my case) in weight over our lives - while also adding several thousands, millions, or billions of monetary pounds to our worth depending on how we map our careers.

I have worked with growth during all my career: from early career as strategy head at ad agencies working with growth-hungry small, medium and large-scale companies, to days of strategic marketing and growth insights consulting for more than 20 multinational companies, to being a marketing head for an (insanely) fast-growing retail and fashion / footwear chain, to (finally) being a growth advisory consultant for startups and scaleups in Sweden. And in all these cases, I have found that there are three common threads to making growth happen:

1. Taking time-out to think growth
2. Taking a journey from big picture to small details to ensure that growth actually happens
3. And, taking the pain to actually put growth as recurring item in your agenda

Taking time out for growth is important because our schedules are filled up to the brim - and in many cases spilling over - with meetings, reminders, to-do lists, calls, messenger alerts, fire fighting and what not. In the rush of doing everything urgent we are not in a position to focus on what's important.

To ensure sustainable growth, executive teams need to make growth a habit!

Taking the journey from big picture to small details is important because while growth planning is a great way to start, you will only reach your finish line if you actually map out your growth marathon in sufficient detail as an action plan with clear deadlines, responsibilities, and indicators. Unless you bring the growth vision to concrete details, it will remain fluffy idea without the desired results.

Finally, taking the pain of putting growth as a recurring agenda item is important because a business needs to develop a smooth running stream of growth and not just a one time uptick in sales or profits or however else you measure growth. Unless "we" make growth a habit, it will not become a habit for our "business."

In a nutshell growth needs discipline - a change of habit for executive teams to actually ensure growth actually becomes a habit for the businesses they run.

Interested in making growth a habit: find out more at www.imagitrim.com - our consulting venture IMAGITRIM is helping companies in making growth a habit.

Naimul Abd is a marketing evangelist, a business and growth adviser, an impact entrepreneur, and an early-stage investor based in Sweden.