As leaders one of our main responsibilities is to ensure that our teams and organizations are growing. Growth encompasses a number of areas including revenue growth, infrastructure, and capacity for excellence. All three are critical to reaching our goals and fulfilling our purpose.
There are five keys to driving growth for your organization. The first key is investing versus spending. For example, when putting together your budget, identify how much of your financial spend in the upcoming year is to fulfill the current operational needs and what percentage of your budget that will fuel growth. Items in this second category would include items such as team training, new initiatives, and activities linked towards expanding to serve new markets. Central to this concept is to avoid maintaining status quo and instead invest in things that strengthen your capacity.
A second key is visioning versus avoiding risk.
Some leaders become intent on preserving the resources and success they have already obtained. This tendency leads them to draw back from anything that is not certain, has not been thoroughly vetted, and is guaranteed to succeed. Unfortunately, that approach limits most of the options that would fuel our growth moving forward.
Visioning on the other hand involves crystalizing our goals and direction and asking ourselves key questions. One such question would be, “If we reach our goals, what would be different? What would we be experiencing?” Other activities to envision your goals and direction include watching for trends that might inform your decisions, defining areas of opportunity and how those might fit with your priorities and capabilities, and investing time in considering how you would want to reshape the future.
As you consider these keys, set aside time to reflect on clarifying your direction and how you are investing in your organization and team growth. Step out of the day to day to assess where you are doing well and where you should continue to invest. Consider new areas where you should stretch and increase efforts. The time you spend now will pay off in huge dividends down the road.
In our next “Bits ‘N Bytes” we will identify three more keys to driving your growth in 2025!
