The 7 Rules of Growth For Your Business

For years, I have tried to answer this one question: What do businesses that achieve sustained growth do differently from those that stagnate or fail?

As an executive coach, I speak to a variety of different types of business owners each year. I’ve learned that there are no silver bullets or 17-point checklists that will lead to guaranteed growth. There are, however, seven specific areas in which growth companies concentrate their efforts.

1. Strong and clear sense of purpose. Most leaders of companies that have achieved growth discover that it takes more than the promise of increasing financial reward to fuel their aspirations and ambitions. They find a higher calling than simply the pursuit of “more money.”
2. Market intelligence. This is an organization’s ability to first recognize, then adapt, to fundamental changes in the marketplace. Many times, small-business owners become too myopic, seeing only a limited view of the markets in which they compete. Growth leaders see the bigger picture.
3. Effective growth planning. This is the best predictor of whether or not a business will grow. To be effective, a plan for growth does not need to be overly formal or complicated. However, it does need to be written, well-communicated and regularly updated. It also needs to include the various stakeholders inside and outside the business, often with the help of a third-party.
4. Customer-driven processes. These days, every company I talk to believes it is customer-driven, when actually very few really are. Take a look at all of the business processes from a customer’s perspective. Are they in place to make it easier for the company, or to help deliver on the promise of faster, cheaper and better for the customer? Is every step a customer should take in your process clear, easy and obvious?
5. Harnessing current technology. Successful leaders don’t let the boom and bust of technology cycles give them the excuse to ignore that we live in an information age. If a company is in business, it is in the technology business.
6. The best and brightest people. Growth leaders recognize that they are only as good as the people with whom they work. The ability to hire, train and retain the best and the brightest people is often the difference between success and failure. 
7. Seeing the future. Few organizations take the time to regularly dream for the future. Growth leaders learn how to diligently monitor and interpret the macro forces of change affecting the world in which they live.

Need help with one or a few of these in your business? You are not alone. The Coaching Authority can help you go further faster! We're so sure, we are willing to let you try us out for free.