Leadership Principle #1 – A Vision for the Future: Managing Long-Term Growth

As CEO, guiding your company’s growth is an important, but surprisingly often overlooked component to your ongoing success.  By growth, I mean long-term growth, not just next quarters numbers.  A mistake I see CEOs make is failing to consciously manage their company’s long-term growth as diligently as they focus on short-term results.  This can be disastrous if you rely solely on the existing runway of your current growth to carry you forward indefinitely.  Managing long-term growth is a process you need to invest in, from a time and resources standpoint, otherwise you will run into a wall eventually.  

How and what you are doing today to proactively manage your future growth?  Are you investing time regularly to meet with your team for out-of-the box thinking, where nothing is off the table?  Is your team gaming out scenarios by looking by threats and opportunities?  This process of visioning for the future requires a different mindset and approach from short-term execution, but it’s mission-critical to your company’s success and has to occur in addition to your regular day-to-day activities. 

When you meet with your team for growth planning sessions, it’s a good idea to address the following questions.  Do you know how you are currently growing and how you will continue to grow?  They may not be the same and what you’ve done in the past may not work in the future. 

The first step is to clearly understand what is driving your current growth.  Is it the product itself, operating excellence, or geographic expansion?  Do you really know where you are in the company/product life cycle?  Look at what the numbers are telling you.  Listen to what customers and the market is telling you. 

Second, where is the next level of growth coming from, and how are you planning to scale?  More importantly, how much time do you have before your current growth model changes?  This will give you an idea of how much runway you have left on your current strategy. 

Finally, are you aware of the internal and external influences affecting your growth and what are you doing to manage that change?  I can tell you, circumstances will change eventually, and your plan for growth needs to adapt as well. 

If you cannot adequately answer those questions, and if you are instead relying on hope, luck or current momentum, you will shortly find yourself out of time and your company’s growth will come to a grinding halt under your watch. 

Long-term success all comes back to a diligent focus on the future.  Even the largest Fortune 500 companies need to change their growth strategies regularly in order to stay on top of their game.  It’s a question of when, not if things will change, so having a grasp on long-term planning is a critical tool in your toolbox.  

If you would like to learn more about how to manage growth and what you need to be doing as a leader, contact me today for a conversation about my CEO coaching services.