22This is Part III in a blog series called “How to Prepare Your Company for a Major Growth Spurt.” Read Part I and Part II.
Be sure to read Part I and Part II about developing a growth mindset before reading and applying these tips to grow your company.
Tips For You as Leader to Help Grow Your Company
- Work hard to build a company where all the moving parts – not just some departments- are ready for major growth. Are you willing to have a company that has a level of ‘corporate multiple personality disorder’? Are you okay with a variety of 1X’s, 2X’s, and 3X’s? Do you have the energy and willingness to make this work?
- Lead your people into believing in their ability – individually and as a team – to successfully grow your company. Do you believe that your company as a whole can achieve 3X growth? Will you require some parts to work at 10X speed to compensate for other parts that are at 1X speed? Will over-burdening some parts of the company have a negative impact on morale?
- Are you willing to challenge your people to up their game to the 3X level? If you are not willing to or if it makes you uncomfortable, you will need to develop a strategy now to overcome that. It may even require that you yourself change. This will not be business as usual. It a new mindset and a relentless focus on changing behaviours. It’ll be hard work, but it’s worth it.
- Are you as leader willing to go to the 3X level and are you able to sustain it? If you are not, how will you compensate for that and intentionally ensure that you are doing what needs to be done?
- Encourage and support people working on 3X timelines. Which people or teams are already working on 3X timelines, and how are you supporting their efforts in finding new ways? Allow them to run ahead and test new ways of doing. Avoid the pitfall of just going back to results that are certain and predictable.
Tips for Your People to Help Grow Your Company
- Find ways to help people get in the game, and stay in the game. It’s easy for new initiatives to fizzle out once the excitement is gone. Who will be the key people that will carry the message of growth into your company? Who will inoculate your whole company with a new culture that goes far beyond just new action steps? How will you motivate and guide them, and keep up this momentum?
- Intentionally give key people time in their days to work on growth. Make it a priority! How much capacity do you have in your company for 2X or 3X thinking and behaviour? How do you run meetings, and what do you discuss in these meetings? Are you giving room for 2X and 3X thinking and behaviour?
Some of these questions require a high degree of self-awareness. If you still need to develop this, explore some of the popular personality type assessments like the Myers Briggs test.. Have your team members do them as well. This way, you can ensure that you have the right people present in every key meeting.
It will also help if every part of your company has adopted a growth mindset.
Building a 3X company may require a significant cultural shift and re-think of what you d. And why you do it. You may need to start new conversations and end old ones. It needs to be incessant, relentless and it needs to become a habit. It’s impossible for everyone to question everything at all times: products need to be shipped, bills need to be paid, and the job still needs to get done. But a new growth mindset will encourage far more important discussions by your people across the board. This will allow you as a company to see many little and big changes collectively moving you to a 3X company.
If you need help moving your company into 3X thinking, doing, and planning, contact me to arrange a consultation.
