Previously published on The WealthBuilders Podcast
“Be fruitful and multiply.” This is the first commandment given to humanity in the Bible (Genesis 1:28), and it is repeated time and time again throughout scripture. I believe that God wasn’t just talking about babies here—moreover, we are called to spread God’s plans and purposes throughout the earth.
Here’s the truth–God has designed and equipped us for profit and growth. This post discusses three ways business leaders can intentionally plan for organizational growth. If you implement these tips, your team will be well prepared for growth in 2022! (And be sure to tune into the corresponding WealthBuilders Podcast episode!)
[Related: 3 Keys to Profit and Growth in Your Business]
1. Pursue Smart Growth.
Not all growth is good growth. Think about weeds in a garden—even pretty ones like dandelions can choke out intended growth! You need to be smart about the growth you cultivate, or else you might find yourself in a different place than you wanted at the end of 2022. God has already prepared the path; you just have to cooperate. When you know and abide by this, all pressure is relieved. Then you won’t struggle to knock down doors that weren’t meant to be opened.
Here are some questions to get you and your organization on the right track:
- Ask God: How do you want me to grow? What do you want me to focus on during the upcoming season?
- Why do we want to grow? What is the purpose of the increase we want to see? (For example, if your goal is to increase your bottom line, why? Is it so you can give more to your shareholders, or perhaps so you can have the capital to expand into new key activities?)
- Do my growth goals align with the vision and purpose God put in my heart for the organization?
Once you’ve answered those questions, you need to count the cost. Organizational growth places new demands on every team member, so you need to prepare. Ask yourself the following:
- Do you have the infrastructure you need to handle growth? (For example, if your goal is to grow your client base, do you have the means to care for them?)
- How much growth do you have the capacity for now? How can you create space for your desired growth?
- What is the cost for additional resources, i.e., raw materials, technology, employees, etc.?
- Where does my revenue need to be to sustain the cost of these additional resources?
- Am I stewarding my current responsibilities before I pursue new growth? (For example, if you’re a nonprofit like WealthBuilders, you need to build your donor base. However, before you grow, you must ensure that you’re stewarding your current responsibilities well. Do you communicate with and take care of the donors you already have?)
After you’ve counted the cost, smart growth requires you to look at your competition. Consider:
- What is your unique advantage?
- How do you add value in ways that others do not?
- What do you do better than your competitors that allows you to add value?
- How do you build the capabilities that will propel you forward time after time?
The next step toward organizational growth in 2022 has to do with setting yourself apart from the competition as well. By pursuing unique value propositions, you can create profit and growth in your business.
2. Craft Your Blue Ocean Strategy.
At its core, The Blue Ocean Strategy is about pursuing unique value propositions. But what are value propositions? Essentially, value propositions are how your product or service delivers value to your target audience. So, as you pursue growth, you should consider how to diversify your business offerings! That’s where The Blue Ocean Strategy comes into play.
The Blue Ocean Strategy is the idea that we can create an uncontested market space where the competition is irrelevant. Doesn’t that sound nice? This is achieved by capturing new demand and offering customers a leap in value while also streamlining costs. So, a Blue Ocean is a niche that hasn’t been tapped into yet. (In contrast, a Red Ocean represents a highly competitive market space where there’s a lot of ‘blood in the water,’ so to speak.)
A great example of a Blue Ocean is Sensodyne toothpaste. If you go to the store, you will find countless varieties of generic toothpaste. However, when Sensodyne broke into the market, they were among the first to target customers with sensitive teeth. So, you can create a Blue Ocean within a Red Ocean by drawing from your creativity (and the Holy Spirit!)
When you find your Blue Ocean Strategy, you create new demand rather than competing for existing demand. The goal is to create something that customers didn’t know they had to have. Consider the trends—what types of products are people looking for? Maybe consumers want sustainable products, or maybe they’re in the market for services that give them access to information quickly and efficiently. Do your research to understand what products and services are already available. Then, figure out what people want. There are bound to be gaps, and those gaps are market opportunities!
3. Create and communicate goals that allow everyone in the organization to thrive.
When you position yourself for organizational growth that requires change, everyone on your team is going to feel the effects of the transition. So, it’s important to communicate your ‘why’ to your team. Once your team is on board with your vision and plan for growth, you can set measurements to monitor that growth. Here’s how to create and communicate goals that will set everyone in your organization up for success:
1. Clearly communicate corporate and individual goals. Everyone in the organization needs to be clear about the plan for the whole team as well as their individual responsibilities.
2. Make sure goals are measurable. People want to be successful, so communicate what success looks like.
3. Involve your team members as you create new systems. You’re changing people’s rhythm of how they do their job, which can create stress and insecurity. So, involve team members as much as you can to build new strategies that accommodate growth.
4. Assign one leader to each goal. Have them take ownership and delegate when necessary—shared leadership can be confusing!
I hope this article has given you direction for how you can pursue organizational growth. Tune into The WealthBuilders Podcast to listen to the corresponding episode!