Removing the shroud of mystery from the topic of GROWTH Part 1

Let me ask you a basic question: what is a company? No, really, what is a company? A company is fundamentally a collection of roles executed by one or more people. Let us say there is a company ABC services Inc. that is generating annual revenues to the tune of $5 million and employs 10 people. In other words a team of 10 people is generating $5 million. Let us say the company now wants to grow its annual revenues so that it is generating $10 million and it wants to do this over the next 3 years. How do you think the company can do that? Well, another way of looking at the company's current reality is that its team of 10 people are performing at a $5 million level. This performance is essentially a function of the current knowledge, skills and capability level of its people. If this company has to generate $10 million annually the company is going to need a team that looks quite different from the one they have now in terms of its knowledge, skills, experience and capability. Step-by-step approach to putting together the team that will grow this company into a $10 million organization: 1.Identify a few very successful, high-growth $10 million companies in your industry 2.Look at the composition of the leadership teams running these companies 3.Clearly identify the roles on their teams 4.Most importantly look at the CEO, CFO and COO roles 5.Identify the knowledge-level, skill sets, qualifications and experience associated with each role 6.Compare this with the roles in your current team 7.Identify the gaps in roles and competencies on your team 8.Develop a strategy to acquire or train for missing competencies 9.Develop a project plan and a time line for filling in the missing competencies This is the first piece of your growth strategy. Steps 7 and 8 represent a lot of heavy lifting. Get expert help if you are not sure how to do this. I use a much broader definition of "competency" than is normally used. By competency I mean the set of abilities required to achieve the desired goals. It includes technical competence, emotional intelligence and fortitude, ego strength, vision, ability to execute, ability to make the right choices everyday, level 5 leadership skills and the operating mental models. Here is Jim Collins video on the concept of "First who, then what." http://www.jimcollins.com/media_topics/first-who.html#audio=77