There is so much great content that is embedded in the 7 Stages of Growth model. Over the years I’ve tapped into all aspects of it to provide webinars, blog posts, email drip campaigns, presentations, articles and special reports.
A combination that I’ve used a lot is a presentation where I have the audience participate in the 27 Challenges exercise and follow that up with them completing the Leadership Styles assessment.
This presentation can be done in an hour or it can grow into a 3 – 4 hour presentation. There is a 3-hour slide deck that you can find on the membership website.
https://www.gcspecialists.com/member-dashboard
As a reminder, you can find it here:
Resources Tab – 7SOG – 3 Hour 7 SOG Presentation
I always begin my presentations explaining that as a company grows, the complexity level increases and that complexity is due to the addition of people. I explain that while it’s easy to manage revenue/profits and processes, people are the biggest challenge we face as business owners. So understanding the 7 Stages of Growth is the ONLY model that provides business owners the ability to actual predict what’s coming as they add more people.
After I’ve explained the concept of ‘hidden agents’, I ask them to participate in an exercise and I hand out the hard copy version of the 27 Challenges. I ask them to take a few minutes and circle their top 5 challenges then prioritize them.
After they have taken the exercise, I spend time talking about the value of ‘putting a name to a problem’. I’ll ask if they feel their leadership team or key employees would come up with the same challenges as the business owner did. I talk about how valuable ‘alignment’ is. That without alignment we can’t get ‘engagement’ and without engagement, we can’t effectively ‘implement’.
While I’m talking, I explain the value of a program I offer called the Stages of Growth X-Ray and site examples of the benefits a recent company received after taking their team through this workshop. NOTE: I’m not SELLING the X-Ray. I NEVER sell from the stage. However, I utilize my own experiences as I talk about the program and the value gained. I address what I know they are going through as business owners and show them I have effective solutions.
I now lead into the Leadership Styles part of the presentation and provide some statistics on the importance of leadership, the impact of emotional intelligence and I introduce the six leadership styles from Daniel Goleman’s work Primal Leadership.
Then I hand out the Leadership Styles assessment and ask them to complete it. I talk about John C. Maxwell’s book the 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership and talk about the Law of the Lid. This law says that a company will only rise to the competency level of the leader.
A company will only grow to the skill level of the leader so it’s in the best interests of the business owner to continually look at ways of improving their own skill set.
Now I hand out the Stages of Growth Matrix. I ask the audience to pull out their 27 Challenges exercise, find their stage of growth on the Matrix and look at the challenges that line up for their stage of growth. I have them raise their hands if any of the challenges they selected line up with the challenges for their stage of growth. This is always a great way to show them the value of the 7 Stages of Growth because people are impressed when they see their challenges on the Matrix.
I do the same thing with the Leadership Styles assessment. I have them look at the top 3 leadership styles for their stage of growth and see if the styles they identified from the assessment match. I emphasize that there is no ‘right or wrong’. I explain that both the 27 Challenges and the Leadership Styles are hidden agents. The 7 Stages of Growth is all about helping a business owner ‘focus on the right things at the right time’.
So if they are Stage 3 and they aren’t focusing on Staff Buy-in as a top challenge, that issue may be the ‘constrictor’ that’s stopping the company from gaining the traction it needs to grow. That’s the organizational approach. Same thing with the Leadership Styles.
If they are Stage 4 and their top leadership style is Pacesetting, making a subtle change in their leadership style may increase the ‘circulation’ and again, create the needed traction to grow. Now you’ve also been able to address professional development.
Good luck in creating your own 7 Stages of Growth presentation!
https://www.gcspecialists.com/member-dashboard
Remember, I’m here if you have any questions.
Your success. My passion.
Laurie Taylor, FlashPoint!
