eXITS Monthly Newsletter
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Upcoming 2010 Events |
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Volume 1, Issue 2 |
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Guest LecturesFebruary 16, 2010 March 18, 2010 April 20, 2010 Business Owner
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Cracking the Code to Your Company’s Growth: How Business Owners Can Define Growth In a Down Economy |
 Laurie Taylor President FlashPoint! Solutions to Ignite Your Business Guest Lecturer February 16, 2010 Click Here for Details A growth company, according to Webster’s is a company that grows at a greater rate than the economy as a whole and that directs a relatively high proportion of the income back into the business. Can I see a show of hands from CEOs who would have defined their company in 2009 as a ‘growth company’? Which puts me at a bit of a disadvantage as a business growth specialist, right? Seems whenever I use the word growth with potential clients they quickly point out they aren’t growing and therefore aren’t in need of growth coaching. Here’s what I say to that: If your business isn’t growing, it’s dying. When it comes to running a business, there are three dimensions that impact how successful a business will be. I call these Gates of Focus:
Any issue that you encounter in a business will fall under one of these Gates of Focus and ignoring any of them for very long can endanger the success of a business. So a company that focused on revenue growth during the early 90s, as in the case of many thousands of dotcom company’s, and ignored their people issues and their process issues, not to mention the concept of making a profit, are largely gone. In fact some of them didn’t even make it a year. So just because a company is GROWING through revenue, doesn’t determine success. And conversely, if a company focuses on GROWING by taking care of its people, that can spur revenue and profitability growth. So GROWTH is yours to define. And my belief is that even in a down economy, a company must continue to grow some aspect of its business in order to be prepared for the turn around that always follows these downturns. If you only focus on revenue growth or profitability growth as a measure for success, you are missing other critical elements that impact your ability to grow. As in the case of the dotcoms that were thrown millions of dollars based on a wing and a prayer, they folded. The company’s that weathered the dotcom implosion, that went on to create and maintain legitimate operations, didn’t just hang their hat on one dimension of their organization. They made sure they addressed People Issues in order to create a culture that believed in what the company stood for. They put in place Processes that were designed to sustain the company even after investors stopped throwing money at them. If you want to create a business that will function and even thrive during bad times, intentionally define what growth means for you. Engage your employees in that exercise. Take the time to look deeper into the critical aspects of your business – how are you treating your employees – are your processes really efficient – is there a culture of engagement – critical issues that can get lost in the chase for revenue when times are good. Want to define growth for your company? Join me, Laurie Taylor, on Feb. 16 when I present Cracking the Code to Your Company’s Growth: How Business Owner’s Can Define Growth in a Down Economy. Walk away with your own definition of growth and a new focus on how you can ‘grow’ your company in 2010. |
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