Phase 3 - Board actions to sustain growth and build lasting shareholder value
Characteristics of this phase of growth
• Your business has grown significantly and has the potential to be a major player
• Competitive threats, client demands and technology changes pose ever more complicated challenges
• The company is in danger of outgrowing its plan and infrastructure
• The Board is executing, or considering, new growth strategies: acquisitions, mergers, IPO's, spin-offs, new product lines, etc
Problems you are likely to encounter
• You need to solve much more complex problems, and the old ways of handling them don't work
• You don't have enough time for vital strategic tasks; you wonder whether you need a COO to run operations
• The organisation seems unwieldy and is entering turbulence
• People don't seem to understand the new growth strategy or share your sense of urgency about the demands of fundamental change
• You believe in the need for change but also worry about throwing the business into chaos with too much change
• It feels like you're constantly communicating, but managers complain that they don't understand the decisions or how they were made
• People accuse you of micromanaging and not empowering them
• Keeping an entrepreneurial culture seems impossible
• People you count on and want to keep are leaving the company
• As you spend more and more time outside your company, you worry about your management team's ability to run the business without you
Dangers of not responding
• The business will start to spin its wheels, lose focus on the big picture and hit a wall
• You won't know what hit you
• New competition will erode your hard fought positioning, revenue and profits will fall
• People will return to a reactive crisis mode
• The eagency could spin out of control and become another crash-and-burn victim
Leadership roles needed
• Change catalyst
• Organisation builder
• Strategic Innovator
• Chief of culture
Board responsibilities
• Recognise the need for fundamental change and proactively lead the discovery and implementation of a strategic plan for achieving dramatic new growth
• Develop your executive team so that each member becomes an accountable leader; empower your team to run day-to-day operations while you focus on strategic issues
• Establish a network of teams for bottom-up planning and operations
• Provide the company with an objective, expanded view of the external environment
• Find and develop high-level partnerships and relationships to leverage for growth
• Use a written set of core values to guide everyone's behaviour; devise reward and recognition programmes to reinforce these values
Personal changes required
• Spend all your time working on the big picture, not on the day-to-day aspects of the business
• Step out of operations and make strategy and culture your main focus
• Hold your team accountable for sharing strategic leadership with you
• Push for the belief that continual reinvention and periodic planning and reorganisation are required for new growth
• Redefine and constantly develop the culture that will attract and retain the best performers
After "Leading at the speed of growth" by Catlin & Matthews
If you recognise these issues in your organisation, contact Tony Wightman on 0207 100 1233 or via the contact us facility