Image Credit: Depositphotos

You are an entrepreneur. You start a business. It’s your “baby,” and you wrap your arms around it to hold it together and protect it. Marketing – you do it all. Sales – you close the deals. Finances – you manage the books. Delivery – you create the product or service, and you ship it. At this stage of business, where finances are just starting to flow, you must be the doer and manager in your business.

Then it grows – to a point where your arms get fatigued from the strain. So, you enlist help. You start to build a team. You link arms and now, with an expanded circumference, you can take on more work, explore additional opportunities, and expand your offerings. You manage, and now you also lead.

And it works, until the growth begins to strain your current team. You notice you are trying to pitch in and become the doer again, while your team is doing all they can. Managing degrades into “putting out fires,” and there is no time to lead due to the “tyranny of the urgent.”

What do you do at this point in business?

First of all, realize that you are not alone. This is a normal cycle of growth in a business.

The key is knowing what the next step should be for you and your organization.

There is an expanding cycle of business growth, and each requires a different focus. Yet, each has a similar pattern.

1. You will reach a point of growth where you say, “We are experiencing the strain. Something has to change.”
2. You will feel a tug to revisit your core values and vision. And to adjust your goals.
3. You will build, expand, or change your team and systems based on that focus.
4. You will experience an upward growth trend.
5. And then you will reach that point of growth where you say, again, “We are experiencing the strain. Something has to change.”

You are, essentially, pushing the edges of your personal comfort zone and your company’s comfort zone with each cycle.

This is growth.

But if you allow yourself to get too comfortable at any one place along the way, you will not experience the next levels of growth. You may even be tempted to turn back when you hit that point of strain (many do), but you will also miss that next level of growth if you do.

What should you do instead?

Move forward.

Here’s where some go wrong.

To them, moving forward means addition. Experiencing high levels of growth? Their solution: “Add more.”

• If you are an entrepreneur, you will add more time.
• If you have a team, you will add more people.
• If you manufacture, you will produce more.

All of this sounds logical to a point.

And that point is subtraction.

There will come a point where, by adding more, you are actually subtracting from your growth and effectiveness. Your energy will deplete. Your team will burn out. Your systems will break down.

At some point, you must go back to values, vision, and goals.

Taking time to reflect and adjust your goals based on these allows you to reset, grow into a new focus, and develop your team based on these new insights. Communicating these values, vision, and goals helps you develop a team of leaders and not just followers, thus multiplying your impact and capabilities as an organization.

You don’t ADD ON to grow beyond a certain level – you MULTIPLY.

What time zone is it for your business?

Time to…

• Reflect on your core values, vision, and goals?
• Build your team based on those established?
• Produce to meet your growing demands?
• Maximize effort to complete an objective?

Just as there are cycles in life, there are cycles in business. You can’t force your way forward, go back in time, or stay in one place without consequences.

But you can take the next steps toward growth that are right for you and your organization.

—

For more resources on how you can grow your business beyond its comfort zone, click here to learn about the Communication Impact Report and Workshop for leaders and their teams.

As the CEO of Strength Leader Development, Deb Ingino is a highly sought-after international executive mentor, coach, trainer, and speaker. Deb is well versed in global business operations and helps business leaders and their teams to discover and leverage their strengths, so they can create highly collaborative teams that deliver great results. With a refreshingly direct style, and using the Maxwell Method, Deb helps leaders and teams to deliver profitable results. Connect with Deb to learn more about her mentorship and coaching programs to equip you with advanced strategies to elevate your results.