Growth As A Choice: The Decision Is Yours

A review of the small and midsize enterprise (SME) landscape in North America reveals some very interesting data points. These depict a very large universe of enterprises with enormous numbers at the bottom of the hierarchy pyramid and only a few at the top, relative to number of employees. What they all have in common, though, is that each and every one is a candidate for growth. Note how the SME universe is segmented:

• There are approximately 6,000,000 businesses if you count the SoHo sector
• 3,800,000 have 1-10 employees
• Only 18,000 have 500 or more employees

This tells us that there is a tremendous opportunity for companies to move to the next level within the small and midsize arena. But how does this growth happen?

During the Grow Your Next Generation Business forum at SAPPHIRE NOW, Rhonda Abrams, USA Today columnist and best selling author, explained how to break through barriers, consider new options, and find successful strategies to build sustainable, high-growth companies.

Growth or Decline

Typically, growth occurs in a particular way:  your company experiences a period of expansion followed by a plateau followed by another upward spike then another plateau. At some point along the way, though, SME businesses experience a fork in the road where they will either continue to grow, or, conversely, begin to decline.

Decline can happen for many reasons:  the general business landscape changes and becomes less favorable, new competition emerges, customers churn or other similar events occur. There can be many reasons but one thing is clear:  companies never remain static. They either expand or contract.

Growth, on the other hand, is often the result of a conscious decision to expand rather than to maintain the status quo. It is a mindset that differs greatly from simply running the business on a day-to-day basis and letting the results be what they may, as long as there is a profit. It is driven by the desire to get more out of what you have at your disposal in order to accelerate positive results.

“MMP2”

The decision to do what is necessary to grow is often made when a company is in the “plateau state” between periods of growth. At this time, successful business leaders will commonly leverage a combination of the following in order to pave the path forward. I call it “MMP2”:

• The Mind – you must have a Mission, Goals and a Strategy that are quantitative. Your mind must also be open to the possibility of failure. There is never a guarantee of success.
• Money – allocate your funds in innovative ways. Debt is a choice that you either make or not. Debt brings with it both positive and negative aspects – be ready to deal with both.
• People – motivate, reassure, and explain change to your employees. Delegate more and take the time to create tomorrow’s leaders. Invest in people to increase returns.
• Process – review your key processes and make changes to optimize them. Explain change to your employees as they are usually adverse to change. Move what you can to the Cloud and automate everything possible.

In the end, growth is a mindset – a decision is made to get more out of what you have either by acquisition, diversification or innovation. What is clear is that one path must be chosen if you do not want to slide into contraction.

To see the full presentation, watch the replay Think Big and Take Your Business to the Next Level.

Do you have any other advice for small to mid-size companies that want to innovate and grow? Share them below!

Grow Your Next Generation Business Forum replays can be found online here.