04 Sep Growth and Success Stem from Three C’s
I have had the privilege of leading an organization through tremendous growth. Other leaders will often ask me, “Dave, what’s your secret to successfully growing a company?” As I reflected upon this question and how we went from 29 million dollars to over 500 million dollars a year in sales, three C’s came to mind.
The first of which and one I feel is most critical to success is Culture. Some think of culture as merely the “soft stuff”. I look at culture as the “hard stuff”. Intricately aligned with a company’s purpose, its culture is the solid foundation that grounds a company and holds it together through challenges and opportunities. I believe it’s the leader’s job to create the culture. If you don’t like who and what you see around you, look at yourself. What culture and values are you promoting by what you say, what you do and by who you have chosen to be around you?
Secondly, a leader’s role is to Communicate. He is the spokesperson for the future. In tough times and in good times the leader is the champion of the desired future, the company’s vision. His conversations and other communications emanate from this future. He speaks and acts like the future he wants his company to be. Using all means of communication (in person and across geographies), the leader enrolls and keeps the entire team engaged in achieving the desired future. If you are not a natural expert at communication, seek assistance from someone to help you effectively reach out and communicate to others and in the process learn to master your own communication skills.
Thirdly, the leader is the Coach. Day in and day out a leader’s role is to coach his team to achieve the future vision. Instead of himself becoming the ultimate doer, he empowers others to execute the yearly business plan. He monitors the achievement of goals, and without accepting reasons or excuses he makes tough choices and course corrections when necessary. When goals are met, he rewards and celebrates with the entire team, and I mean entire. It takes every single person in the company – not just the sales team – to hit yearly goals and ultimately achieve the company’s vision. Coach your management team to create job descriptions and key performance metrics to ensure every single person throughout the organization understands why their job is important and how their individual performance ultimately affects the big picture. Want to dramatically increase your chances at success? Include everyone in the bonus pool (to achieve sales and profit goals), and everyone working together as a team will figure out how to hit the high mark.
Mastering the three “C’s” will enable you to lead your company to exponential sales and profit growth. For guidance along the way, reach out to an external peer group and an experienced executive coach for knowledge and training. Become a leader who excels at the three “C’s” and one day others will be asking you, “What’s your secret to success?”