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Abstract:
Successful growth managers can be defined as managers who have the skill-base,
understanding and management talent to successfully take a start-up company from its early entrepreneurial stage through a strong, explosive growth phase.
As Mr. Johnson discusses here, there is more than meets the eye in accomplishing and managing this almost Herculean task.
"No company is any stronger than the individuals
who comprise its
presence."
Companies are made up of people and people come with various types of backgrounds,
perspectives, motivations and desires. The combination of people brought into a company will determine its corporate culture, and to a large degree, its future
prosperity.
As a key manager, your ability to properly select, manage and motivate others will play a
critical role in determining the success of your venture. Your understanding of the significant factors impacting your business, both internal and
external, and your ability to adjust as necessary when these factors change will also
be important. Over the past ten or so years, I have worked with companies ranging in
size from one entrepreneur to some of the largest companies in the Silicon Valley and a number of those in between. Regardless of the size of the enterprise,
the following eight elements seem to be critical to the success of a growth manager, particularly during their company's rapid growth transition.
I have watched entrepreneurs struggle to manage a company that's growing rapidly.
Some do not have the vision to see their company in any other light than it is currently perceived. This typically leads to a frantic search to find the key to
regaining the growth or market dominance they once enjoyed. Often, unfortunately,
their former position of success is not regained, due to the limits they unwittingly
impose upon themselves.
Lets look at eight principles that are important for a manager to consider as his company
goes through a rapid growth transition.
1. Manage From A Plan
Principle: Creation of realistic strategic and operating
plans by which the company is actually managed is paramount to a company's success during
transition. Shooting from the hip may work in a company's early stages, however a rapid growth phase
will often reveal the inability of this technique to consistently and successfully cope with the accompanying flood of decisions which need to be made.
These written plans serve to give strategic alignment and more specific direction to
management. As the many inevitable questions regarding which way to proceed
arise, most can be answered by referring to these plans which are the official company
marching orders. Well developed plans provide the overall direction needed
to ensure that the different areas of the company are operating in concert rather than in
conflict with each other.
Action: First, ensure that the entire management team
jointly puts together both a strategic plan, and a detailed operating plan which
synchronize the utilization of all the resources anticipated for the company to meet its objectives. Then, actually
manage by these plans. This means that no action should be taken that is not fully
consistent with the adopted plans without first getting the approval of the entire
management team to amend the plans accordingly.
2. Know Thyself
Principle: We all have both strengths and weaknesses.
If there is a manager who is strong in every area that's important in managing, I
haven't met them yet. Often the variance in a managers abilities is obvious. For example, a manager may be
very intelligent, but uncreative. They may be highly skilled, but unable to
consistently apply that skill. They may be talented in engineering, but poor in
managing other engineers.
A successful manager must know what he is "good at" and what he's "not so
good at". We tend to focus on the former and ignore the latter, which can lead
to serious problems for the company. A good successful growth manger will realize that
he is not good at everything and will take the steps necessary to balance himself and to get others to help "shore him up" in the areas where he is weak.
Trying to be all things to all people is, more than likely, a formula for failure.
Action: Take inventory, an honest inventory of your abilities
in the areas for which you are responsible. Have someone who knows your work and
talents well (e.g. one you've worked for, or beside, or who has worked for you) help in this regard.
After determining your weaknesses, put a plan of action into effect that will attempt to
improve these areas. However, be realistic. During a rapid growth phase
there is very little time available to take training classes. (Many training
seminars, unfortunately, do not yield the anticipated results and end up compounding the
problem since they cost you time and money.) In a few areas, you may succeed in
improving quickly. In others, you may never change, at least not before the rapid
growth is over. Be honest with yourself and enlist the help of others with
complimentary skills when they're needed.
3. Delegate
Principle: Delegate areas of your responsibility to reduce
your workload to a manageable size or to ensure that certain areas are handled by someone
with the appropriate skill. Delegation does not mean that you pass your responsibility to
someone else. Delegation is the appointing of another to represent you in a
particular function. You can not abdicate your responsibility to a
subordinate. If they fail, you have failed and the company is negatively impacted.
Even when you delegate, you must be involved by managing that delegation to ensure
that the function is performed successfully.
Action: Divide your current obligations into logical areas
which can be assumed by another person or persons. You will need to explain these
functions and stay involved with periodic review and control.
4. Take Responsibility
Principle: The Buck always stops with you. A good
manager should never point to a subordinate, accusing them of failure. As a rapid
growth manager, you and your subordinates must jointly put a plan into action which you are responsible to monitor
as milestones occur. This periodic review allows for early detection of problems before there can be a failure. You are responsible to do all you can to
ensure the success of those who work for you.
Action: Think about it for a moment. Do you look to pass
the blame when you are accused? Or do you first consider the accusation as though it
may be true?
We often pass the blame through looking for the "reason" the event happened.
When we find the reason, we are exonerated. Even though its important to find
the reason for problems, it is not always appropriate to broadcast it. If you are
responsible for the failure, take the hit, admit it, apologize for it, make the necessary
change to correct it, and move on.
5. Control Your Time
Principle: As the saying goes, "If you cannot control
your time, it will control you". Time is a resource. As an effective
manager you are called to control it just as you would control inventory, production or any other corporate resource. How well
you control your time also tells others how much you respect them. If you are
constantly late for meetings, you silently tell others that their time is not as important
as yours. You also convey that you are somewhat out of control.
I have talked with some managers who do not even know that they are not controlling their
time. They subconsciously believe that being out of control is part of the
job. It is part of the adrenaline rush that they look for every morning they come to work.
Growth toward a long term goal can only be accomplished with great difficulty in
such an environment.
I have also worked with managers who appear to have little concept of pacing their work.
Everything waits until the last minute when a rush to fix it ensues. The
job does not demand this action, the perspective of the manager does.
One more thing about time. The volume of work required by the rapid growth manager
is phenomenal. It is imperative that a mind-set be developed which selectively puts the highest priority issues "on the plate" and, by dealing with
them correctly and completely the first time, gets them "off the plate".
Otherwise, the effect of a few hasty decisions or lack of attention to important items may eventually
snowball and leave you buried. The old adage is good advice: “If it's worth
doing, it's worth doing right.”
Action: Back away from the "trees" and take a look at
the whole “forest”. Take a high level look at what you do and how much
time you spend compared to how much you should be spending in each area. (Obviously this requires that you
correctly prioritize your workload.) If the time spent in one area is out of
proportion, utilize corporate resources (people, dollars, suppliers, etc.), if necessary, to correct
it.
There are many time management aids available at your local stationary store or bookstore.
Adopt a daily calendar system which conforms to your style. If you are
computer oriented, you may want to look at a computer based time management system, or
even one on a hand-held computer you can take with you. If you prefer pencil and
paper, use a Day Timer or Franklin Planner type personal organizer. Even if you have
an administrative aid or secretary to help schedule things, some place to add to and
prioritize your “to do list” for the next day is essential.
6. Learn To See the Forest From The Trees
Principle: Perspective scalability is required in order to
know which issues are urgent, which are important and which are just a smoke screen.
Dale Paar, a fellow Silicon Valley consultant says, "When the crisis appears
to be a crisis-in-fact, check the facts again." Much effort is expended
pursuing crises which really aren't crises at all.
Action: Keep a big enough picture to be able to determine what
is important in the overall scheme of things. Plan your next day out in advance in
your personal organizer. Determine what specific things you want to accomplish and how you will
accomplish them. Read Steven Covey's Book "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. Pay particular attention to the "Time Management
Matrix". Learn to distinguish between what is important and what is urgent.
7. Deal With Problems, Not Symptoms
Principle: Always work to determine the root of a problem
so you can resolve the issue at its lowest possible level. Dealing with symptoms,
which may show up elsewhere, only temporarily covers a problem which is bound to resurface later.
Effectively dealing with the root of the problem is far better than having to endure
the disruption and loss of additional valuable time later.
Action: Ask yourself if the issue you are dealing with is
a problem, or really a symptom of a deeper problem. Once you think you have found
the problem, ask yourself the question again regarding what appears this time to be the problem.
Though the resolution of a problem may take more time than the resolution of a symptom, the solution will be more permanent and often will eradicate other symptoms
as
well.
8. You Are the Servant of All
Principle: I have heard it said by some venture
capitalists that a little arrogance is a good thing. I prefer to say that pride in your
work is a good thing. Arrogance is not a good thing. As a senior manager in your company, you must develop the
attitude that you are the servant to all those who work for you as well as those you
work for. No, you do not need to work for your subordinates, but you do need to
respect them and provide the things you can to help them do their job most efficiently.
Action: Ask yourself and ask those who work for you if
there is anything you can do to help them be more effective in their job and make their
goals easier to achieve? If there are, make it your job to do them.
Being a successful growth manager is not for everyone, it's a tremendous challenge.
However, understanding the principles and taking the actions noted above should make the job a whole lot easier, while increasing your chances of not only
surviving the growth, but of laying the foundation for the company's long term success in the years ahead.
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