It shocked me the other day when I realized I hadn’t talked to you yet about the Four Rules of the Stages of Growth. When I give presentations or I’m just talking to a CEO about the model, I always find a way to incorporate these four rules into my conversation. Why?
Because they resonate. All the time.
I always take the time to explain them in detail during the X-Ray process also.
Remember, the value of the 7 Stages of Growth is LANGUAGE! You change the language and you change the experience.
Our X-Ray and Profit Zone programs help a CEO and his/her team change their experience when talking about and thinking about the company. And the four rules are powerful reminders of why language is so critical to a company’s success. When people have a way to explain how they FEEL about something, the dialogue becomes so much richer!
Rule #1: As soon as you land in any stage of growth, you are getting ready for the next stage of growth.
Think of the 7 Stages of Growth as a continuum. As soon as a company lands in Stage 2, they should start thinking about Stage 3. The 7 Stages of Growth is the ONLY methodology out there today that provides a business owner with the ability to actually SEE what’s coming and prepare for those challenges. The conversation you have with a CEO who is in Stage 2, getting ready for Stage 3, allows you to help him/her see what to expect and how to prepare.
Rule #2: What you don’t get done in any stage of growth, doesn’t go away.
Whenever I mention this, heads nod. CEOs know the fundamental truth of this statement. Our ability to help them look back two stages of growth when doing the X-Ray, as well as understand their current stage of growth challenges, is a huge differentiator for us. We are there to help them identify what is holding them back, so they can move on. This again, provides us with great conversations that engage CEOs no matter what stage of growth they are in. Powerful.
Rule #3: Time will make a difference.
This rule speaks to several issues. The longer a company stays in any stage of growth, the more likely they are to address those challenges. So, in this case, time is their friend. If, however, a company moves quickly through any stage of growth, more than likely they didn’t have time to focus on many of the challenges for that stage of growth and now find themselves struggling to handle the new challenges awaiting them. Time, in this case, is their enemy. I always try to understand the goal of the business owner in terms of growth. Is their business model to grow through acquisition? Organic growth? Expand to other territories? Understanding how fast or slow a company has grown, helps me quickly understand what issues they are probably facing.
Rule #4: If you aren’t growing, you are dying.
I explain to CEOs that something must always be refreshed when running a company. Stagnation is not a strategy. So, to maintain a company that is viable in the marketplace and to vendors and employees, every company must be mindful of this rule. And, I make sure business owners know that they define growth. Even though our model has company’s growing based on the number of employees, that doesn’t need to be how any company defines growth. This was an especially hard rule to talk about during the pandemic when companies were laying off people and many went out of business. However, any company can look inward to encourage staff to learn new skills; to take the time to explore existing processes and find room for improvement. The key point here is helping a CEO see beyond the obvious when talking about growing their business.
Don’t hesitate to talk about these four rules whenever you get a chance to engage a CEO in a conversation. And as always, if you have questions, let me know.
Your success. My passion.
Laurie Taylor, FlashPoint!
