|
5. |
Growth
- the company is broadening
production lines, focusing on the main product; management style transition
from informal to formal |
 |
Organization:
Centralized
Management: Hybrid formal/informal
Technology:
Developed, focused
Funding Stage: Second |
|
pp. |
Problem
|
Solution
|
Action
|
|
5.1 |
Growth Risk:
-
Your capabilities in maintaining perspective
(reality vs. euphoria), balancing today's and tomorrow's needs, and
coordinating resources are being tested
-
The original route to success works for some
time, but then it stops working so well and hits diminishing returns. It is
nor easy to keep a great new venture to grow at its original rate for more
than 3 to 5 years. If you continue doing the same things that made you
successful during the start-up stage you are almost certain to fail.
|
-
Thinking about your second stage of growth
before the first has happened. Reinventing your business model,
experimenting extensively to find a successful new model and get to the
second stage of growth
-
Besides creating a viable model, a
critical factor in the ultimate success is how well and fast your company
integrates
-
Development of a flexible and responsive company
structure adaptable to changing internal and external conditions
-
Development of an effective and flexible production
systems responsive to change
(see
slide
show)
-
Building strategic alliances and business
partnerships
(see
slide
show)
|
|
|
5.2 |
Technology &
Production Risk:
-
Early success with a single application or
product line does not translate into long-term viability in the face of
well-capitalized, entrenched competitors with strong customer relationships
-
New technology and products development draws
significant resources from the fast growing business operations
|
-
Identification of strategic market intervention areas
-
Development of the business and technology strategy to
achieve this goal
-
Top management participation
-
Development of strategic technology
development partnerships (see
slide
show)
|
|
|
5.3 |
Marketability &
Competing Risk:
|
-
While managing growing complexity, it
essential to remain focused on how the business provides value to its
customers
-
Fighting fires
-
Research into the market and its trends
-
Reinventing
market development strategy
|
|
|
5.4 |
Financial Risk:
-
High leverage
-
Short-term financing
-
Inventory shortages or imbalances
-
Poor financial & tax strategy for generating
cash
-
Excessive increases in overhead and personnel
|
 |
|
|
5.5 |
Team & Management Risk:
-
Start-up spirit starts to fade
-
Organizational boundaries are mounting; employee gradually
lose perspective on each other's jobs
-
People lose the big picture: they can no longer see how the
various tasks, activities and functions fit together to achieve the
organization's overall purpose
-
Employees start to identify more with their own unit or work
group than with the company as a whole
-
As boundaries become more rigid, the company loses its
elasticity - it's ability to change in response to (or anticipation of)
changes in the external environment
-
No strategic and contingency planning
-
Shifting priorities in response to opportunities
-
Resisting development of structure, processes
and controls
-
Hiring people who are no smarter than you are
-
Key people leaving
-
Others don't share your urgency
-
Poor decision support systems
-
Overridden and inadequate internal systems,
non-responsive to customers & employees
-
Conflict between formal and informal
-
Emergence of the "Peter Principle"
-
Difficult decisions about roles, authority &
responsibility
|
-
Keeping pace with an increasingly complex
business environment requires proper delegation, better communication, and
cross-pollination of perspectives from outside advisers and peers
-
Managing as a team
-
Addressing the problem of "good people" who
can't keep up
-
Establishment of management systems enabling better
control, transparency, and customer relationships
-
Development of
employee empowerment mechanisms
-
Development of formal professional
management structures
|
-
Create the mindset of growth
and establish the relentless growth
attitude in your organization
-
Learn to do less and manage more; practice
the art of effective
leadership,
management, and coaching
-
Practice
effective self-management
-
Manage by objectives
-
Start with
yourself, know your own values, strengths, weaknesses and use them
effectively
-
To be a successful manager, learn
how to innovate
-
Build an
innovation-friendly organization
-
If you cannot afford top management,
build
your management team from within and develop their management skills
-
Change from reactive to proactive style
-
Do the feedback analysis as a matter of course
to build on your strengths
-
Gain really effective control a
comprehensive business audit
-
Develop plans for the future
-
Don't over-respond to opportunities to avoid
fragmentation and burn-out (see
80/20 Principle)
-
Micro management de-motivates people -
concentrate on the activities that bring the most value to the
organization and
delegate other responsibilities and tasks
-
Make sure you
communicate clearly and often
with colleagues, superiors, and subordinates
-
Talk less and listen more and actively to
associates, advisors, customers, suppliers, and vendors; cross-pollinate
solutions and ideas with peers and advisers outside the business
-
Don't assume that everyone in the company
thinks like you do; that you have all the answers; that things won't get
done without you; and that your direct reports will automatically function
as a team
-
Play the role of the
team builder,
coach,
strategic planner and
communicator; communicate critical and actionable
information
-
Require top managers to operate as a "team"
-
Help team manage the plan by group discussion
of progress;
measuring results with key metrics; communicating progress
and results; and adjusting plans to market shifts
-
Manage organizational misfits, malcontents,
and non-performers
|
