How to grow smart is a common problem for businesses, but there are ways to help improve your chances of becoming a fast-growing and successful company that leaves the startup stage behind. How do you accelerate growth with limited resources? That’s the big, hairy question that startups in every industry face. How to grow smart is a common problem for businesses, but there are ways to help improve your chances of becoming a fast-growing and successful company that leaves the startup stage behind.
Goals can make or break a company — especially those in the startup stage. Even beyond that early stage, we know that companies can reach a plateau in growth as they begin to get bigger. They lose sight of both internal goals and customer needs. Both can be company killers. Here are seven ways to scale your company the smart way.
1. Create operating leverage – This seems so simple, but it’s easy to overlook: If you add operating costs at the same rate that you grow revenue, then your business does not scale. You have to create operating leverage to tip the scales in your favor. Operating the business at scale is about optimization, not duplication, of efforts. Once a company can optimize resources with a scalable business model, cross-enterprise collaboration can create more value to secure bottom-line growth.
2. Communicate effectively – Top-down, authoritarian management styles just don’t work as well as they once did. With today’s speed of business, companies are turning to conversations to drive strategy and alignment. Leaders should listen, not just talk. Let ideas bubble up from around the company — you may find some gems in unexpected places. In addition lead by example. It’s important to be consistent in your strategy and make sure that all employees understand how their contributions affect the company’s success.
3. Build a network of influencers – Influence marketing is a great way to scale your business, by tapping into external factors to help propel your company forward. If key influencers are interested in your message, they will begin talking about your company, its leaders and your products and services. Key influencers are found in social media and blogs, in the press at conferences and at analyst firms. These influencers are respected in many networks and they help build credibility for you in the eyes of your prospects.
4. Operate with transparency – Recent research published in Harvard Business Review supports the idea that if everyone knows everything that’s going on in a company, that could actually be a major driver of increased organizational and individual performance. When employees are clear on where they stand and how their colleagues are performing, they work better together to achieve company goals.
5. Align strategy with action – Alignment drives the performance of your company. If everyone understands what the company is trying to accomplish (and why) they will feel more engaged and be more effective. The key to alignment is letting employees know how they contribute to the company’s success and that their work matters.
6. Create accountability – The most common reason any plan fails is lack of ownership. If people don’t have a stake and responsibility in the plan, the plan won’t prosper. People need to have a strong and positive relationship with direct managers and an inherent trust in the organization in order to feel accountable for the commitments they make. If you create accountability at the top of your organization, it will be respected and also reflected throughout your company.
7. Speed up by slowing down – If you want to speed up, slow down. Focus on getting the basics right and really understanding your customer needs. This focus will provide the energy needed to truly scale up your business. When you have 100 percent commitment to solving your customers’ problems, and you know exactly what those problems are and how they manifest, your business will grow through its own power.
Article via Alex Raymond