GROW YOUR BUSINESS
How Do You Sustainably Grow Your Business ?
BY : RICK HOLBROOK , GROWTH STRATAGEMS
There ’ s a big difference between being able to grow your business when your market is expanding and customer demand is strong versus growing during more challenging times . Sustained business growth comes from optimising two systems in your business : your business operating system and your leadership development system . In my Coaches Corner article and my article on page 5 , I offer tips on leadership development , so my only additional comment is that the two systems are interdependent . You can only grow your business as fast as you grow the skills of your employees , and a scalable operating system is key to sustaining growth . Both were key findings by Bain & Company ’ s Chris Zook and James Allen in their research for their book , The Founders Mentality .
What do I mean by your business operating system ? I mean the operating practices you ’ ve implemented that align everyone ’ s focus onto your key strategies . Using a hockey analogy , I ’ ve found that most businesses operate like teams of shinny hockey players . They don ’ t play a consistent system that gets them playing as a team . Players aren ’ t held accountable . Team results are mostly achieved by strong individual efforts , each team has a few floaters , and often the players don ’ t pass the puck to each other . Sound familiar ? While playing shinny in business can be fun too , it rarely delivers winning results and certainly not sustainable growth .
Here are five essential elements of an effective business operating system , why they ’ re important , and suggestions on how to create them :
1 . CREATE AND MAINTAIN A PERFORMANCE-ENHANCING CULTURE
The famous business thought-leader Peter Drucker said that “ Culture eats Strategy for Breakfast ,” which succinctly ranks their relative importance . If you want to create sustainable growth , you must first create and sustain a great culture ; a culture that balances productivity , as measured by customers and shareholders , with being a great place to work , as measured by your employees .
Research by John Kotter and James Heskett , authors of the book Corporate Culture and Performance , revealed that the key is to place equal emphasis on all three stakeholders . Companies that did significantly outperformed those who favoured one over the other two . Last year ’ s sale to Amazon of the US-based Whole Foods Market is a good recent example of a company that was a great place to work but wasn ’ t equally focused on serving its customers or satisfying its investors . The result was Amazon bought Whole Foods at a surprisingly low valuation .
But it ’ s not enough to define your culture in theoretical and static terms . Your culture must be continually modelled by senior leaders and regularly reinforced at all levels of the company . Moreover , your culture must recognise and respond to changes in your market and operating environment . While certain elements of culture like Core Values shouldn ’ t change , other more flexible culture elements like attitudes and beliefs can and should change .
I ’ ve come to believe that a major sustainable competitive advantage is the work environment you create at your company . I believe people are intrinsically motivated by the opportunity to do great things and have fun doing it . Southwest Airlines is a great example of a company that has consistently grown over a long period of time in a tough , competitive industry . They ’ ve done it by creating a work environment that balances productivity with being a great place to work . As their former CEO Herb Kelleher noted , their competitors can copy everything they do , but they can ’ t copy their culture , their esprit de corps . Ordinary people , working in a great environment , can do extraordinary things .
2 . UNLOCK THE POWER OF YOUR CORE PURPOSE
To stay connected to your company , your stakeholders ( employees , customers , and investors ) need to find your work meaningful . Otherwise you ’ re just another employer , supplier , and investment option . You want a deeper connection with your stakeholders , and the way to forge that connection is to uncover your Core Purpose . Your Core Purpose answers the question , “ Why are we in business ( beyond making a profit )?” or “ If we disappeared , why would we be missed ?” As Simon Sinek says , “ People don ’ t buy what you do . They buy why you do it ”.
Often a company ’ s purpose is linked to the founder ’ s purpose . John Aldred , the founder of Enerflex Systems , had as his Core Purpose to elevate the status of tradespeople . He believed welders , millwrights , mechanics , etc ., made valuable and important contributions to society , and that the trades were desirable career paths . Through the manifestation of his Core Purpose , Enerflex was a great place to work , a great company to buy from , and a great company to invest in .
8 | SPRING 2018