Virtually every business I come across wants to grow.
A few I come across want to, and are able to scale.
Scaling is different from just growing, it requires much more than being better at what you currently do. It requires significant change, invites risk, and for many is very unsettling personally.
The few that have scaled successfully all have in place a leadership that seems to have a few common characteristics, always in an individual, who is able to shape the organisation in ways that reflect the hunger to be different in ways that adds serious value to customers, and to scale as a result.
They create a vision that excites and engages those around them.
They are able to translate that vision into a clear strategy that provides a transparent framework for decision making, ensuring what not to do is as important as what to do.
They build the capabilities of those around them to enable the execution of the strategy.
They focus relentlessly on one thing at a time, and measure results that connect the outcomes to the strategy, daily, weekly, quarterly, bi-annually, and longer term.
They are good people. This seems counter to the public persona of the driving successful business person who scales a business successfully, but most I have seen who are the genuine leaders of a successful scaling, are also successful people in other ways.
When you want to see if your business has what it takes, give me a call.
Photo credit: Roberto Robitz via Flikr
