Built to Grow
A Survival Manual for Growing Companies
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Having the wrong person in the wrong job is one of the most costly and time-consuming mistakes a business can make. Yet this major business blunder is committed over and over again. Just one weak person in a key position can drag down the performance of the entire organization. Read More
As a company gets bigger, communication both within and between departments suffers. Ultimately, no one knows what’s going on in other parts of the company. And what was once a well-oiled, integrated machine becomes a company in chaos. Read More
Effective managers are the single most important factor in engaging employees, motivating employees, and building a productive workplace. Yet the lack of managerial depth is a serious problem for growing organizations. A firm’s ability to grow is directly related to its ability to add managerial capacity to support its growth. Read More
The bigger a company gets, and the faster it’s growing, the harder it is to get everybody on the same page. The issue is that there probably isn’t an easily understood page to get everyone on. In all likelihood there are many pages, actual and mental, together with meeting notes and emails, each intended to explain the vision, mission, and strategy of your business. Furthermore, most of these messages are full of unclear or even conflicting statements concerning who your company is, what it does, and how it does it. Read More
Understanding roles and responsibilities is pretty clear in a small organization. But as a company gets bigger, things that were understood as a matter of course must be made explicit. Everyone in an organization needs to know who is responsible for what and who has the authority for what. Unclear responsibility is one of the most common pitfalls in a growing business. Show me a rapidly growing organization and I'll show you managers with misaligned goals and vague responsibility. Read More
Making and executing decisions is much harder in a complex organization than it is in a simple one. When companies are small, decisions are made quickly, usually informally, by a small number of people, and they are easily understood. The results are generally apparent and when a decision doesn’t produce the anticipated result, changes are made until the desired outcome is produced. As a result, small companies are typically lean and agile, and they give customers what they want. Read More
This is the final post in a five part series introducing the four stages of business growth. If attaining growth is hard, then sustaining it is even harder. After successfully scaling the company, your organization must make sure that it is able to sustain its growth over the long term. Read More
This is the fourth post in a five part series introducing the four stages of business growth. The Rapid Growth stage is where the organization’s past and future collide. On the surface, the only apparent difference between a start-up and a large company is the amount of revenue and market share. But it’s not that simple. Read More
My last post discussed the multitude of problems that arise from a lack of candor in organizations. But simply asking people to be more candid without a supporting organizational culture is futile. The concept of candor is simple, but being honest inside of organizations is difficult. It’s hard because you are fighting against human nature and established organizational behaviors. People avoid conflict, engage in groupthink, tell their bosses what they think they want to hear, withhold feedback, hoard information, and ignore reality... Read More
Within high-growth companies, one of the greatest challenges is having difficult conversations with clarity, ease, and effectiveness. Too many people struggle with how to say no, give constructive criticism, address performance issues, speak up in meetings, or confront interpersonal problems. Picture yourself stuck in another pointless meeting where no one in the room says the things that need to be said. Slide after mind-numbing slide fails to break any new ground. Despite the facts that are staring everyone right in the face... Read More
