Thought Patrol Podcast

We're talking again today about how do you equip for growth; in particular, how do you simplify and refine systems and processes to aid the potential to grow. There's something beautifully elegant in simplicity.

Great design efficient processes beautiful things tend to be simple. It's relatively easy to come up with a complex system but finding the simplicity in the complex, is a whole different story. If we are not mindful of creating simplicity, complex confusion will prevail.

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We're talking here about what it takes to equip your company for growth. Specifically, in this session, how to simplify. Today we're talking about the first factor in simplification; the importance of testing, test, test, test.

F. Scott Fitzgerald has an example of a test. He said, “The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function.”  Personally, I think paradox and being comfortable with it, is ‘part and parcel’ of being a good leader. But it is a good example of a test. Test and see as they say. 

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When we are endeavouring to support growth, one of our significant challenges is the allocation of resources. I mean this in its broadest context, that is not only financial but also people, time, and focus.

“Never underrate the importance of asset allocation.” Wise words from John C. Bogle; it’s very important. The frustration here can be the want to grow, and even the ability to do so, yet being constrained through a lack of resource, be it people, tech, systems, capabilities, or finance.

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Today, we're talking about responsibility. It's almost becoming an unfashionable word; especially when you add the word ‘personal’. However, today we're talking about responsibility in the context of supporting growth.

Mitt Romney, like him or not, said something that I think holds true, “Leadership is about taking responsibility, not making excuses.” Again, not necessarily a popular or even contemporary topic. I'm a big believer in personal responsibility and I ask for it in the people that I've led over the years, and now with the leaders I mentor.

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When we're looking to equip for growth, we're trying to reduce constraints and resource for effective execution. Specifically, here we're talking about how to support these initiatives by ensuring pressure is in the right places. 

Ernest Hemingway said, “Courage is grace under pressure”. I think that is a great combination, because it does take courage to apply pressure in the right areas, yet there is a measure of grace required to activate this in the right way. 

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“Virtue is a moral excellence. A virtue is a trait or quality that is deemed to be morally good and thus is valued as a foundation of principle and good moral being. In other words, it is a behaviour that shows high moral standards: doing what is right and avoiding what is wrong.” At least that is according to that font of eternal knowledge; Wikipedia. The key for me here is the word behaviour. Often when we talk values, they are abstract; whereas virtues are translated into behaviours which is absolutely key if you want to grow your business successfully. 

We’re talking here about growth and in particular, where to scrutinise for growth. I've put a section here on virtues because I think it's important to view them as a part of an organisational structure. Yes, we do cover this in other areas that are more aligned to people, but I think it's worth a mention here from an organisational perspective around what to scrutinise for growth.

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Every business has certain things in the organisation that constrain growth. They may even be processes, systems or people, who have served you well up to this point. In order to grow and equip your business for scalability, you will need to scrutinise constraints. 

Jeff Bezos, you could argue knows a thing or two about growth. He said this, “I think frugality drives innovation, just like other constraints do. One of the only ways to get out of a tight box is to invent your way out.” So, there are positive constraints, and in fact they can promote innovation. However, the constraints I’m talking about are those limiting factors that constrain growth and limit full expression of potential.

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If you want to equip your business for success and to grow strongly, you need to look at certain areas of the business itself. You will need to scrutinise your business, and in particular, scrutinise drivers. This is all about knowing what to focus on and drilling down with ruthless efficiency to the absolutely critical drivers of success. 

“Starting a business from scratch and having little money in the bank focuses your mind in a way that running a multibillion-dollar business never does. It brings the key drivers of performance into sharp relief. I promise.” According to Sallie Krawcheck.

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We've been talking about how to Align from a strategic perspective. We've learned how to identify trends and how to create Success Factors. The third leg of the stool here is to Focus. 

We know the broad areas where our strategic investments need to be applied; this is about making sure that we are laser focused on the right areas to invest. By invest I mean the ability to create characteristics and capabilities that will drive our future success. Whilst it may mean financial it also means the application of other resources including time, people, and attention.

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Today we're talking about Success Factors. These are the factors that will drive success in our organisations, given the trends we've identified that will shape our future. This is all about aligning with the future operating environment and the characteristics we need in our organisations to succeed. What are those factors?

Nina Tassler noted that, “failure is a fundamental factor of success.” I think it's important to note at this juncture that we will not be able to predict with 100% certainty the characteristics we need to be successful in the future. Just as the trends can only be drawn from our observations, and as such are imperfect, so too are the Success Factors we're looking to build. However, we can and should draw some conclusions, start implementing them and begin to observe the impact. We will fail and should learn to fail fast and fail forward, as they say.

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