Are You Ready to Grow?

Posted by Greg Bustin (June 1, 2005)

Excerpted from the book, Take Charge! How Leaders Profit From Change, by Greg Bustin.

After three years of battling a recession, leaders are now focusing on corporate growth. Shaking the rust off growth engines that have not been cranked to capacity can require more effort and energy than you might first realize. Fortunately, there are some deceptively simple steps you can undertake to make the mental and physical changes that the better times demand. What are these steps?

Assessing your own appetite for change
Preparing your organization for change
Making the most of your competitive advantage

“Know Thyself”

Start by following the lead of Greek philosopher Socrates. “Know thyself,” he said. Socrates believed that self-knowledge is the starting point because the greatest source of confusion is the failure to realize how little we know about anything, including ourselves.

Knowing yourself means understanding how you’ll respond in the pressure-cooker environment that’s often created by change that accompanies growth.

So, as you begin to move your organization into growth mode, start the process by first answering “True” or “False” to these two questions to assess your own appetite for change:

I’m more of a detail person than a visionary, so the chances of our organization embracing any type of bold initiative are pretty small.
I’m not sure how much change our people can handle all at once. The best way to transform our company will be to make small, incremental changes.

An executive prepared to leverage change and re-charge the company’s growth engines would answer as follows:

False. You don’t need to be a so-called visionary to lead a change initiative. What’s important is determining how to make the most of changes facing your organization and then developing a plan that moves your organization from point A to point B. Your attention to detail improves your organization’s chances of success, since detail people are comfortable setting clear objectives, building in milestones, and holding people accountable for executing the plan. This is not micromanagement – it’s leadership.
True. The longest journey, say the Chinese, begins with the smallest step. So if you believe a little movement in the right direction will allow your team to become comfortable with change, take those first steps. Remember to articulate a destination, supply a road map and help your team understand that the small steps being taken today are part of a broader, bigger and better plan for renewed or continued success.

These aren’t the only questions you should be asking yourself. But if your answers matched the two here, you’re probably up for the challenges that come with embracing change. If only one or none of your answers matched, your chances of succeeding with a growth initiative will be small unless you seek and follow advice from others with experience, conviction and confidence.

Preparing for Change

Let’s assume you’re ready for your role as growth guru. How do you prepare your organization to capitalize on change and re-charge your growth engines?

Great leaders use the planning process to confront change, set a course of action and secure buy-in throughout the organization. The planning process is the single best way to prepare your organization to capitalize on change.

In well-run companies, the planning process is an annual or semi-annual mechanism for reviewing current situations, establishing new objectives and plotting a course of action to accomplish the objectives.

The best companies see the planning process as a springboard to identify and evaluate new opportunities, consider new strategies and discuss objectives that may at first seem unattainable. This type of planning requires more effort and can be uncomfortable because it forces leaders to confront realities. But, when done right, this approach can be exhilarating and rewarding.

Making the Most of Your Competitive Advantage

There are seven components to achieving success, including the following three:

Find your competitive advantage. Every company has a competitive advantage. It’s your job as the leader to dig it out, and the planning process is your tool. Identify your company’s hidden value, and then articulate that value in a way that differentiates you from the competition.
Think strategically, not tactically. Implement broad strategic initiatives and ensure that your constituents understand where the company is going and why. Avoid playing not to lose: scrutinizing costs again and again; freezing all spending and investment; cutting staff to the bone. These are tactics, not strategies. If you ever fall into this trap, you must pull yourself out by focusing on strategies that leverage your competitive advantage.
Do something meaningful, yet achievable. You don’t need to change your world overnight. Begin with small but significant steps, and build on those.

Take Charge!

Most leaders say they want growth. The risk of not growing exceeds any risk associated with growing, because leaders that choose not to grow eventually cede market share to the competition.

Exceptional leaders understand their own appetite for change, and they understand how implementing proven approaches can drive their companies to generate profitable growth.

It’s up to you to take charge!

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