We help middle market CEOs who are obsessed with growth and hungry to learn, but are stuck in the “Growth Trap.” They’re frustrated with their growth rate, feel like they’re working too hard for not enough return, and know there’s a better way to scale – but haven’t found it yet.
Wouldn’t it be great if you could implement a proven, sustainable, straightforward framework to run and grow the business faster, more profitably, expending less effort and less time? That’s exactly what we help our clients do!
What is the Growth Trap?
A CEO is in the Growth Trap when increases in organizational complexity demand more of their energy and time when they would rather operate in a way that gives them more freedom and a significantly greater return that isn’t directly tied to their own, individual efforts.
Root Causes of the Growth Trap
There are five root causes of the Growth Trap, each of which must be addressed to create sustainable, profitable growth.
1. Increasing Complexity, Decreasing Alignment
As your organization grows more complex, it becomes increasingly difficult to put knowledge and understanding into practice. It’s not about “what” to do (in most cases you know this) – it’s about “how” to get it done. Many talk about this; few actually pull it off – because they don’t know how to neutralize the complexity that inevitably creeps into a growing business. An inability to instill discipline, habits, and alignment that are conducive to producing predictable results condemns many organizations to mediocrity.
2. Lousy People Decisions
Getting people decisions wrong creates massive headaches for you and stifles virtually every element that should be working in your organization to generate growth. People decisions including hiring, advancement, role assignment, and who to invest in and develop are best guesses, not data driven. The absence of a process and tools to accurately measure “soft” skills and capacities prevents optimal leverage of your #1 (or in some cases #2) expense item! Doing this correctly dramatically improves staff quality, engagement, accomplishment, and retention. Consider – What would happen to your firm’s performance if you took a 1-month vacation starting next week?
3. Increasing Competition, Decreasing Margins
Growth and success is a double-edged sword. The competition is taking more notice of you and putting you on their radar, which means that you might not be as comfortably differentiated as you once were. At the same time, some of your long-standing clients are beginning to pressure you to offer them some combination of better pricing and more features / services. Both of these inevitable trends – not to mention your increased overhead due to higher stakes people decisions and increased complexity – lead to decreasing margins.
4. Cash Flow Pressure, Decreasing Profit
Growth consumes cash. Pressure on your margins decreases profit. The way for a $10 million business to become a $20 million business is for it to begin to act and execute like a $20 million business. Therefore, at any moment in time, your 4 key business decisions – Strategy, Cash Flow, People, Execution – should reflect the “next level” of performance rather than the way things have been done in the past. Many things in and around your business have changed; now you must change your decisions to break free and accelerate to the next level.
5. Leadership Stagnation
Because of root causes 1-4, you are mostly past and present focused – not future focused. You and your senior team must grow for your business to grow. Failing to acknowledge and act on this leads to insular thinking, less innovation, an inability to react to competitive and environmental threats, and an organization that spends most of its time living in the past at the expense of the future. All strengths and weaknesses in your organization can be traced directly back to the leadership team and your levels of trust, competence, discipline, alignment, and respect – each of which requires continual care, planning, and development.
What it feels like in the Growth Trap
Running your business feels like a frustrating vicious cycle – you take 3 steps forward and then 2-3 steps right back again. It may also feel like you’re spinning too many plates and it’s only a matter of time before they start to fall when you’re too exhausted to keep them all going. You know there is a way to make it all work, but you haven’t found it yet.
Why Performance Dynamics Group provides the BEST solution
- We have a comprehensive, proven, straightforward approach to permanently overcome the root causes of the Growth Trap.
- We support our clients on demand to facilitate behavior change.
- We provide a continual flow of research-based thought leadership to ensure against Leadership Stagnation and provide a competitive edge.
- We have a money back satisfaction guarantee.
The next step is easy! Contact us today to schedule a risk-free, no obligation meeting.
