I recently read a story in Forbes written by Kavita Sahai. In the story he shared this insight: “Running a business is a roller coaster. One day your day is productive and things are looking great for your business, and the next, you feel like everything has been derailed and you are falling. Plenty of business owners go through this roller coaster, and many reach certain milestones during their business’s life when they say, “I’m not sure what to do next.” It’s been my experience that as a business grows, the complexity increases. That complexity is created by people. The point of Sahai’s article was that hiring a business coach is a smart move but many CEOs are hesitant to take that step. As you read the following five signs that tell you it may be time to hire a business coach, ask yourself if any of them sound familiar.
- You see no clear path forward. CEOs, particularly of companies they personally started, are typically jacks of all trades and have had their hands in all parts of the business. They often have a hectic and urgent air about them, which, when they take a step back to lead the company, can be a hard habit to break. Startup CEOs will often find their time occupied with performing tasks that could easily be delegated. CEOs that grow their business beyond the startup stage, learn what to delegate, how to delegate and recognize that they no longer can manage all aspects of their company.
- You’re overwhelmed. A clear sign you’re overwhelmed is when you constantly wonder when the last time you had a vacation or went home on time was. As your business grows, your role has to change. You need to have a clear vision for the future which will help you determine the skills and knowledge you need to build a team. Knowing your strengths is critical and knowing your areas of weakness helps you determine who you need to hire to round out your team. Once you have added critical people to your company, you will be able to focus on what you love to do and have others on board taking care of the things they are excited about.
- You need more personal accountability. As the CEO of a startup, you aren’t really accountable to anyone. As soon as you add that first employee, that changes. Now you are accountable to yourself to make payroll and to manage those employees. Writing down your goals, creating milestones that you can be accountable to is critical. You are now modeling behaviors that are important for your employees to experience. Your personal accountability has to take on new levels of commitment for the good of the company and the people you bring on board to help you grow it.
- You want to develop new skills. Your company will only rise to the level of your own competence. Every day you need to strive to improve your leadership skills, your management skills and your competencies. Assuming that what got you here will get you there is a formula for failure. Listen to what your company is telling you it needs and be prepared to step up to those new challenges, from an organizational perspective (what does the company need) and from a personal perspective (what do I need).
- You’re in a rut. It doesn’t take long for a business owner to burn-out. There are a thousand decisions you have to make every day to keep your company healthy. It’s easy to fall into a rut and want to give up. Running a business is hard work! Know you don’t have to go it alone. You don’t have to have all the answers. You do have to reach out and find others that can help you navigate the challenges that come with growing a business. Get involved in a mastermind group, hire a business coach, find an online course – you have to do something that re-ignites the passion you had when you started the company. A smart CEO looks for people smarter and accepts their insight and advice while learning valuable lessons along the way.
Notes on Understanding the 7 Stages of Growth
- The founder starts out as a Specialist with a vision (Stage 1 is 1-10 employees). At Stage 2 (11 to 19 employees) the CEO needs to identify the 2-3 people they will train and coach company so that at Stage 3 (20-34 employees) they can delegate various company operations to them. The CEO’s role at Stage 3 is now primarily a Manager. As the company continues to grow, the CEO will become more of a Visionary.
- Being overwhelmed is a sign the CEO is working too much in the business rather than on the business. Moving from Stage 2 to Stage 3 the company shifts from CEO-Centric to Enterprise-Centric. By the time the company reaches Stage 4 (35 – 57 employees) the CEO has hired Department or Division Managers to take on many of the responsibilities previously handled by the CEO. If you don’t make the shift and delegate to more experienced managers, you will be overwhelmed by too many decisions.
- Personal accountability is now about holding the new Management Team accountable and helping them to recognize the critical role they play in the success of the company. With a team in place to help make decisions, the CEO can focus on other critical issues and push themselves to new levels of accountability.
- Developing new leadership skills is necessary in all stages of growth as the CEO grows the business. Utilizing different leadership styles and becoming adept at improving your leadership competencies keeps the company fresh and ahead of the growth curve.
- Remember, if you aren’t growing, you’re dying. By focusing on hiring quality people, improving your own leadership skills and creating a vision for the future is your best offense to avoid those ruts that exist in our minds and are ready to take us down. At each stage of growth the company faces different challenges which need to be addressed or they will act as an anchor keeping the company from further growth.
Not All Business Coaching Is the Same
There are a lot of business coaches. Find a business coach with a formula for success. A business coach that can guarantee success. TRW Consulting has that formula for success. We work with a model called the 7 Stages of Growth that helps you:
- Predict how growth will impact you,
- Helps you focus on the right things at the right time,
- Adapt your leadership skills to the needs of the company as it grows.
Here’s what separates TRW Consulting from other coaches:
- It starts with involving the Management Team, rather than focusing solely on you, the CEO. If you are a Stage 3 company (20-34 employees) then you need to have moved from a CEO Centric business to an Enterprise Centric.
- You and the Management Team anonymously rank how you believe the company is doing on a number of challenges, processes, and procedures. Anonymous is important because the CEO can keep managers from expressing their true feelings.
- Next is a facilitated discussion regarding the results and reaching an understanding why people ranked these items as they did? This separates minor issues (someone not having the information) from the real issues that truly need to be addressed.
- Next the group decides on what are the top priories going to be (and which issues can be address later). Since the Management Team has been involved in the process, they will be engaged.
- The top priority items are assigned to various team members who report regularly and receive feedback from the team. The work does not fall solely on the CEO, but various team member. Their engagement continues through implementation.
The Bases for a Systematic Approach
Based on interviews and working with 650 CEO’s in 35 different industries, James Fischer was able to identify 7 Stages of Growth that firms pass through from Start-Up (1-10 employees) to Visionary (161 to 500 employees). In this research, he also found that a businesses will
- Face 27 different Challenges as they grow through these 7 Stages of Growth. At each stage the Top 5 Challenges change. Any challenge not addressed does not go away and in fact can slow growth.
- Need to understand the appropriate Builder: Protector Ratio. In Stages 1 & 2 you need to be builder. That is a person who takes risks. By Stage 3 you need to balance being a builder with being a protector, thus becoming more conservative person.
- Need to know the 5 Non-Negotiable Rules you will face. Like with challenges, unaddressed Rules will restrict future growth
- Face an ever changing focus on a shifting priority of Profit, People, and Process. You need to focus on all three and all times, but the top priority changes as the company grows.
- Need to adjust your Leadership Face from Specialist with a Vision at Stage 1 & 2 to a Manager in Stage 3. Ultimately will become focused on becoming a Visionary in Stage 7.
Getting Started – A FREE Test Drive
James Fischer identified the top five challenges at each stage of growth. Do you know your Top 5 Challenges? I challenge you to take the FREE 27 Challenge Assessment. It will not only give you better insight into your Top 5 Challenges, but you will receive a Special Report for your Stage of Growth. The Report will provide you with the following:
- 5 Biggest Challenges for your firm’s stage of growth
- Tools to Build Your Business
- 5 Non-Negotiable Rules for your firm’s stage of growth
- Business Building Blocks
- Getting Ready for the next Stage of Growth
To take the FREE 27 Challenge Assessment go to https://www.trwconsulting16.com/ and click on Take 27 Challenge Assessment.