This year, some companies will experience unbelievable growth. Most will not, but this proves that it's possible in many industries. That is the point of this article. If it's possible, why not plan for it as opposed to reading about it?
In 2015, Inc. Magazine's top growing companies list included the following growth from 2011 to 2015: Company.com: 18,888%, Scopely: 19,500%, Restore Health: 21,763%, StartApp: 22,036%, Drawbridge: 23,484%, Quick Bridge: 24,138%, Castle Medical: 25,485%, Optima Tax Relief: 26,007%, Tryfacta: 28,365%, and Ultra Mobile: 100,849%!
Every organization has the potential to revolutionize their industry, to experience massive growth, and to change the rules of competition. Lofty words given that very few organizations actually do any of those things. Planning for incredible growth requires you to specifically theorize what holds the organization back from achieving much more, ask far more challenging questions that ignore current processes and models, to momentarily disassociate from your current configuration and paradigms, and then make risk-informed decisions as to the cost-benefit of those potential future versions without fear of your inability to lead it.
It's a question we should all ask our organizations and selves: If it's potentially possible to grow at 1000% of baseline, why do we ask managers to plan for how they'll achieve 5% gains, simply because our current models don't readily facilitate more? The best way to start understanding what truly facilitates growth is to ask more challenging questions, because they push you into competitive advantage and business model discussions as opposed to personal capacity discussions. How do people adapt to 5% growth challenges? They do the same things 5% faster. How do you adapt to the question of growing 1000%, you are forced to find better ways of doing things and generate deeper forms of operational advantage.
For the purposes of strategic planning, it's critical to accept that your potential is bigger than the current business model and organizational competencies, because those are simply choices within your control. The essence of strategic planning is being grounded in data, but also being able to disassemble your business in this theoretical space in order to make choices that generate more and more competitive advantage.
Directional decisions sit atop unspoken assumptions about what is possible, based on personal bias, your understanding of the organization's limitations, and who you're competing against. Here's the problem: many of your assumptions are wrong. Some of them have been made recently incorrect through changing competitive conditions, and other were wrong from the beginning. They could be wrong in the sense that you limited greater potential, you may believe you have stronger intangible assets than you do, or you may not see new opportunities or risks. Accepting this opens up your ability to change. The competitive environment always changes: your competitors are getting smarter, consumer expectations shift, product alternatives shift, your competitive advantage changes, and perceptions about your brand are constantly changing.
Before you launch your next business planning session, come to grips with the fact that potential is without exception many orders of magnitude larger than what your business plans describe. Yes, with better leadership, a better culture, better ideas, better paradigms and better operations, your organization would accomplish twice, three times, or a hundred times more than you will this year. It's a humbling realization that screams for action.
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About the Author
Kirk Leverington is an 18 year veteran of the Saskatchewan credit union system and a long-term corporate strategy manager. Combining a belief in challenging leaders to think strategically with an expert understanding of systematic approaches to implementation, Kirk has played an integral role over the years in supporting organizational change.
As the manager at SaskCentral of National Consulting, Kirk uses his experience to guide the business team in offering enterprise risk management, deposit and lending support, ICAAP, capital planning, strategic and operational planning, audit, and electronic forms to Canadian credit unions.
A version of this blog was first published here: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/why-more-kirk-j-leverington-mba-cmc
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