Organizational Maturity and Leadership for Next Level of Growth Phase- “Are you the Optimum Change Agent?”

Lightning a fast growth organization isn’t for everyone. It is hard to manage, it is hard to stay focused and it is hard not to lose control. The leadership skill set that is required to navigate exponential growth, sales growth or increased volume of 30 to 100 plus percent in one year is specialized and rarely are heads of organizations ready when it happens. To build a successful business, you need more than a good or even great idea. You have to be well organized, flexible, and creative, and develop a knack for paying close attention to the details while never losing sight of the big picture. You should also be prepared to make some personal sacrifices. Whatever type of business, there are basic tips with additional facts that can help to keep it growing. Rapid growth for a business can mean great things for the bottom line. However, the faster a company expands, the more chance there is for company values to get lost amidst the growth. A growing team also changes the dynamic between employees, and leaders should be equipped to help team members adapt to these changes.

Focussing on employees taking centre stage, rapid growth is great for the bottom line but it can also be a corporate culture killer! Companies need to focus on three things: First, employee onboarding because it’s the best time to promote culture. Second, continuous learning so employees learn about the organization and develop critical skills for success. Third, social and community channels or designed spaces for employees to connect about work and personal interests. To achieve success as a business owner you first have to be well organized. That will help you complete tasks efficiently and stay on top of the many things that need to be done. A simple way to get and stay organized is to create a to-do list each day. As you complete each item, check it off your list. Remember, too, that some tasks are more important than others. Aim to tackle the high-priority ones first. There are many online resources that are available to help. That being said, a simple Excel spreadsheet will meet many of a small business's organizational requirements, especially in the early days. Leaders need to realize that their messaging has to be constant. Adopting specific behaviors where employees emulate, reinforcing these behaviors with regular conversations centered on a particular behavior. We use these behaviors to help guide an employee that might be running into a few issues. We also praise employees who exhibit them. Many organizations navigate by going into survival mode and then when things calm down they turn around and say, “Wow! What just happened?” Often leaders wind up learning on the fly and they make a fair amount of mistakes, which can be costly and threatening to the overall health of the organization. In order to do more than survive, people at all levels of the organization need to put the right elements in place to enable the organization to respond effectively;?Pivoting when needed?and appropriately responding to the changing customer demands inherent in fast growth. Sustaining a healthy organization through a tumultuous time and aiming for long-term success, leaders should consider and develop certain key traits and conditions that suite multiple scenarios.

"Before you are a leader, success is all about growing yourself. When you become a leader, success is all about growing others." -Jack Welch

The culture of an organization follows the heart of the CEO and to some extent the board of directors. If you lead an organization, your people will follow and mirror your personal assets, especially your liabilities. Culture or employee attitudes always reflect leadership in good times and the bad. State your core values and demonstrate your values with benefits, compensation. In times of growth, new developments happen daily. Keep the dialogue going, matching the pace of productivity and innovation by using platforms like Slack, dashboards and standing 10-minute meetings. Equally important is to celebrate progress, show appreciation, foster a sense of community and take time for fun. Culture thrives when teams have an emotional connection to the mission and to one other. No matter how busy they are, successful businesses take the time to keep careful?records and the necessities. By doing so, they know where their business stands financially and can often get a better, grasp of any potential challenges they might be facing. Many businesses today keep two sets of records: one physical and another in?the cloud. That way, a business owner no longer has to worry about losing crucial data if something unfortunate happens, like a fire, computer virus, or other calamity. To be successful, you can't afford to ignore your competitors. Instead, take the time to study and learn from them. Larger companies devote significant resources to obtaining this sort of?competitive intelligence. How you go about analyzing the competition can depend on the nature of your business. If you're a restaurant or store owner, you may simply be able to dine or shop at a competitor's place of business, ask customers what they like or don't like about it, and gain information that way. If you're in a field with more limited access to your competitors' inner workings, such as manufacturing, try to keep up with the news in relevant trade publications, speak with any customers you share in common, and obtain and scrutinize whatever financial information a competitor makes publicly available. It’s easy, when going down a path of fast growth, for leadership to be sidetracked, and lose focus. A well developed, communicated and understood vision, and clear, shared values serve as guides for decision-making. Strong shared organizational values provide the guide rails for everyone to ‘stay within boundaries’ as they work to achieve the vision. Regular communications about vision and values to all associates will be most effective if the vision and values are clear and straightforward. Everyone in the organization needs to know what the organization is trying to achieve. Continued sharing and reinforcement of the vision and values by the leaders helps?focus decision making?throughout the organization on solutions that move the organization closer to its goals.

“If you don't believe in yourself, why is anyone else going to believe in you. A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way.”- Richard Branson

Take the time to demonstrate to new hires in concrete terms the driving values and mission of the organization, the pillars of strong organizational culture. Continue to periodically re-enroll long-time and existing colleagues on this secret recipe. Culture must continually be reinforced and refreshed to adapt to changes in the marketplace and society. ?Company culture is the sum of interactional values expressed through daily behaviors, enhanced by the matric of the organizational Purpose Statement and it’s co-values. Like strategy, culture/ purpose is identified at founding and updated constantly to meet changing needs of employees. The values and behaviors need to be reinforced by all workers daily and weekly. This way, all new members learn them immediately and experience company commitment. Instead of hiring for “culture fit,” companies should focus on “culture contribution.” Hire candidates who will not only help the company progress on its culture strategy, but also further evolve it once they're on board. The goal is to hire people who will help build the culture you want in two to five years, not simply the one you have today. A major challenge organizations face, especially when growing rapidly is attracting and retaining top people. Great people are attracted to a great story and opportunity. The opportunity to be a part of ‘something special’ can be very compelling to both outside and inside talent. High performers are also going to be interested in a positive organizational culture where communications flow freely up, down and across the organization. People are interested in being able to make a difference. Good people will only stay at an organization if they feel their efforts are supported and they have the authority to make decisions that matter. There has to be a supportive organizational culture where everyone can see how his or her efforts help the organization succeed. Leadership needs to ensure people have the resources to do their best work in an environment that encourages great performance. Periods of high growth, energy and new opportunities can test the strength of company culture. The priority is to ensure that the company culture is at the center of the organization's behaviors and this begins by making sure we are all talking about our values. Hiring in such an environment is one of the most critical processes to manage to ensure that what got you there helps get you further. The best way to achieve high growth and keep long-term costs at reasonable levels is with highly automated, scalable, integrated systems that support the work of the people to achieve the vision, keep people focused on the right things, and provide real time visibility into the organizational strategy. There simply is not enough time to hire people fast enough during high growth periods to achieve the strategic goals without great systems. Systems that support open communications, where key contributors are updated and update progress toward vision attainment and?strategy execution?in real time are the keys to long-term viability.

Growing a successful business is hard work, and not everyone succeeds at it. According to published data recently focusing on average global organizational analyisis, about 20% of new businesses fail during their first year, 50% fail during the first five years, and 65% fail during the first 10 years. Only 25% of new businesses make it to 15 years or beyond. If you want to be among that 25%, paying attention to these nine tips is a good start, but certainly not exhaustive. To own and run a successful business you'll want to be in a state of constant learning and adapting. The danger within a fast growth environment is it becomes habit for leaders to chase the “next big thing,” and by default pay less attention to what is currently being done. Customers quickly sense this and become dissatisfied with service levels when the company “moves on.” Leaders need to first keep and grow current customers and second attract new customer to expand the base. There must be a willingness pivot quickly when there are opportunities and then follow through to achieve the vision. The organization needs to focus on a few key measurements for success and keep the customers satisfied. This sounds so easy in writing, but is extremely difficult and draining when attempted in practice. Few firms get it right and the ones that do, do it because of the commitment and effectiveness of its leadership. Organizations must invest more in developing leaders who can?create and nurture a winning culture of mutual trust, respect and purpose. Organizational success starts at the top. The quality of leadership has the biggest impact on the bottom line. Successful businesses are those with unique ?leadership, that’s mixture of wisdom, maturity and impulsive where it matters. It’ll finally boil down to having the right people in the right place, with innovation and technology in fine alignment that’ll be the cutting edge to spur exponential growth.

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"Management is about persuading people to do things they do not want to do, while leadership is about inspiring people to do things they never thought they could." - Steve Jobs.?