Models for Growth
There are many business and leadership models for growth in existence that are credibly published in thousands of articles and popular books. Most offer a cure-all prescription of skills, competencies, strengths or intelligences. Yet few work to uncover the buried wisdom and defining stories of the businesses or people making the biggest impact. There are multiple ways to approach the creation of a culture that leads to growth. To create your culture for growth consider the following options.
In his book Good to Great, Jim Collins details the “Hedgehog” concept where he found that great companies focus on what they do well and build upon it. Collins uses Walgreens as an example of a company that finely honed its focus and outperformed the stock market by more than 15 times from 1975 to 2000. The changes there were insider driven. Charles “Cork” Walgreen III transformed the lackluster company by getting rid of more than 500 restaurants and refocusing the business on becoming the most convenient drug store. It was an emotional decision because Walgreens invented the malted milk shake, his grandfather started in food service, and the restaurants Walgreen dumped included those named after him. Walgreen was determined. He gave his team five years to accomplish the task of change. When after six months, no progress had been made, he told his team they now had four and half years. Then, they got busy implementing a narrow focus based on what they were best at. This resulted in more Walgreens locations than Starbucks with drive-through and 24-hour pharmacies in all types of neighborhoods offering flu shots on-demand, passport photos, reasonably priced milk and bread, all designed for customer convenience.
Collins emphasizes that the “Hedgehog” concept, doing one thing and doing it well is the key to long term sustained high performance and growth. In Good to Great, he uses the parable of the clever, devious fox and the simple hedgehog. The fox keeps coming up with new ideas to eat the hedgehog, but the hedgehog handily defeats him by doing his one trick: rolling into a thorny ball. The concept requires the intersection of three answers: what are you passionate about? What can you be the best at and what can actually make you a living? The answer must meet all three criteria.
The “Hedgehog” concept defines what you are good at but people need a reason to work with you. What do you stand for? What is your purpose….why do you exist? Most businesses heavily market what they do. People representing these businesses become walking “spec sheets” where they recite the work of the organization. Successful companies know why they exist. Their people build upon the talent of the organization (the Hedgehog) by defining their purpose….their WHY.
Another author, Simon Sinek (Start with WHY) defines it nicely by reminding us that people don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it. And what you do simply proves what you believe. Organizations that have defined their WHY (reason for existing) find that it transcends the business where employees and customers are influenced by it. Sinek reminds us that if you hire people just because they can do a job, they’ll work for your money. If you hire people who believe what you believe, they’ll work for you with blood, sweat and tears.
When you start with WHY, those who believe what you believe are drawn to you for very personal reasons. It is those who share your values and your beliefs, not the quality of your goods and services that cause them to work with you. The role of management is to be crystal clear on your purpose and a champion of your cause, where your cause is facilitated by the products and services you provide.
Others experts recommend “finding True North” where True North can be transformative and profound. So profound that others want to follow you.
A business continually faces fork-in-the-road decisions. True North is a "break all ties" governing statement or objective for how the company wants to be seen by its customers. Everything done by the employees should be viewed as supporting the True North objective.
A company’s True North objective can be discovered by the following 6-step process where management participates on a “brutal facts” evaluation of who they are and where do they want to be.
6 Steps to Finding Your True North
Step 1: Develop several potential True North statements. Brainstorm with your group to develop a simple yet crystal clear statement of your company’s operating objective.
Step 2: Align as a management team on the right True North for the business. Consider statements that resonate or set you apart in the eyes of your customers.
Step 3: Perform an honest assessment of how the company has performed in recent years against the chosen True North. Understand and break down the potential barriers to embedding it into the company’s culture moving forward.
Step 4: Communicate, communicate, communicate! Everyone in the organization should be able to recite the True North statement in their sleep and know how to apply it in their daily lives. As management, don’t assume that everyone understands your objective. Be broken record on implementing your True North objective through actions and deeds.
Step 5: Improve information flows, so that everyone in the business has the information they need to make decisions that achieve the True North objective. Share examples of actions and deeds that support the True North objective.
Step 6: Walk the Walk. As leaders, you need to make sure tough decisions are made quickly according to the True North objective. Look for opportunities to shake up old organizational behaviors not aligned with True North. Test the organization’s commitment to True North early and often so you can shape the business to your desired behaviors.
Do you and your organization have a True North? How well are you and your team aligned around it? By following the steps outlined above you may be able to more easily rally the business around your chosen path forward.