Growth driven by ingenuity, innovation and underpinned by a solid commercial model is key to the success of our economy. Well run SMEs are at the heart of this!

One really important factor for most owners and leaders in those businesses is the context of that growth. Where growth has context, it can have a clear plan. Where there is a clear plan there can be clear milestones. Having clear milestones means that we understand that there is a journey, and that for the journey to be successful people need to go on that journey with you, because “successful growth” is a sport best played as a team…

A sustainable model

Sustainable business growth starts with understanding whether your operating model can support increased demand, resource requirements and potential complexity over time.

A key foundation of any growth strategy has to be the overall sustainability of the model being built. Is the growth we are building sustainable over a period of time, through this part of the business’s life cycle? If it is going to be sustainable, do we understand the component parts of the business and how each part grows sustainably together…

Vision

Businesses that scale successfully usually have a clear vision of where they are heading and why.

Can we articulate to the team, to our future recruits, to our customers, where we are trying to get to? If the business is going from A to B, why is it going there? Without this it can be difficult to take people on the journey with you.

Structure

Growth can come in different shapes and sizes to most businesses and just because the business is looking to grow it doesn’t mean that it needs a different structure. But if it is going to succeed then having the right structure in place internally to support that growth is important. Equally having the right structure to protect success commercially is also important; whether that’s the protection of IP, assets, cash etc.

Cl arity in the product/service

Do we truly understand why our customers value what we are offering? Most businesses don’t see growth and a sustainable business model built from trying to be all things to all people. A clear focus on a defined proposition helps maintain clarity within the business, but as importantly it maintains clarity outside of the business so that the proposition does not become clouded and lost in a competitive marketplace. That clarity should help drive consistency in delivery and quality, and in turn that should drive a more profitable longer-term model.

Management and leadership

For a business to deliver growth it needs the right people in the right roles doing the right things, playing to their strengths and bringing different skill sets to the table to contribute to that overall success. Equally it needs that management team, despite their different roles, to be focused on a very clear set of objectives. Keep it simple – if everyone has targets, KPIs and other metrics which feel like they are not connected, then you’ll get competing priorities and won’t get a cohesive effort.

It is one thing to understand the objective and be good at the role you have to play in that; one of the biggest challenges for leadership is bringing the rest of your team along with you. Getting them “on the bus” and providing a clear and unambiguous route map is a great skill set, and one that is vital to the journey being successful.

Talent retention and skills & team engagement

Growth can succeed or fail even with the best strategy if the team aren’t on-board.

At the heart of every successful business and the delivery of every successful strategy is the team. In an era of managing an increasingly transient workforce it is important that the team are engaged in the journey the business is on. Sometimes that gets confused with the need for the team to know all the details, the nuts and bolts of the business.

That’s not necessarily the case, but the team do need to understand and buy in to the vision, the business model and how they can contribute to this in their day-to-day involvement. An individual within the team may think they have nothing to do with the specific delivery of a growth strategy, but if part of that strategy is built upon the level of quality delivered to customers and customer retention for example, then they have more of a pivotal role than they realise!

People will get on the bus and off the bus at different points on the journey, but a successful and sustainable business makes sure that each time they do the bus doesn’t stop because the people on-board still understand where they are going.

The input as well as the output

Armed with a clear vision and strategy, the business can build a clear business plan and actions needed at all levels. That business plan needs to be supported by an effective understanding of the inputs as well as the outputs being targeted and how this might present and manifest in the business’ financials:

• Resource and skills – where the team is being built for growth, have we mapped out the investment in resource and training (time and cost) required to foster the skills required? Is this built into a clear overall forecast?
• The journey of growth will not have a linear output – if the initial phase is investment what does that translate to in terms of the numbers? Do we have a model where our team are effectively retained and/or rewarded through those parts of the cycle before the growth is delivered and if we don’t what can we put in place to support this?
• Is capital investment part of the growth plan and if there is, how are we going to fund or finance this?
• Do we understand our working capital cycle and the impact over the short term and the longer term of these growth plans? Do we understand that additional capital may be tied up in the business if our growth is delivered? Have we considered the right facilities required in the business to support the future state of the business?

Having a clear and credible financial plan alongside the overall strategy is vital. It not only ensures that the plans translate into the desired outputs (of success) but also that the inputs required are understood and can be funded where required.

What success looks like…

If the business has a clear vision, then it should understand what success looks like. Growth doesn’t have to mean top line or bottom-line growth. For example, growth for some businesses might mean growth in the diversity of the customer base to create greater business resilience and manage risk. Whatever the success looks like it must be clear that it is growth with a purpose, not growth for the sake of growth.

Stepping back from the day-to-day of running the business to map out your journey can be the biggest challenge for any business owner or senior leader. Whatever your growth journey looks like, make sure you know why you’re doing it, and make sure you have the right support along the way.

Every growth journey is different. Whether your focus is increasing profitability, expanding into new markets, strengthening your leadership team or building a more resilient business, sustainable growth starts with a clear plan. Delivering that plan requires support along the way. If you’re planning the next stage of growth for your business, our team would be happy to join you on that journey and provide the support needed to make that vision a reality.

Get in touch to discuss your plans and find out how we can help.