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Scale Up Your People to Scale Up Your Business

Posted by Chuck Kocher
On March 15, 2019

People to scaleDevelop Your People to Scale Up Your Business

When companies decide they want to grow dramatically they tend to think about infrastructure, financing/cash, hiring additional employees, and gearing up their marketing. All of those things are important, but there’s more to the story. If you’re serious about taking things to the next level you have to scale up your people to scale up your business. You have to make sure your team is ready to take on the challenges ahead.

Grow Your People to Grow Your Company

It’s been said that if you want to grow your company by 10x you need to grow your people by 10x. Why is that? Companies don’t experience exponential growth simply by doing more of the same thing. The skills and methods for running a $1million dollar company won’t work if you’re trying to build a $10million company. It requires a transformation in the way you and your people think and act.

That doesn’t happen automatically. You can’t just assume that if one of your key employees is good at the $1million level that he or she will be equally good at the $10million level—unless you develop that employee. You have to be committed to helping your team members grow. Part of that, of course, involves making sure they have access to information and education—and that they have the time to pursue what they need. Are you budgeting the resources (time and money) to help your people grow?

There’s another aspect of developing people that isn’t about time, information, or money. Are you willing to take a risk and let your people fail? I’m not talking about catastrophic failure. You still have to steer the ship away from icebergs. But are you ready to give up some control in order to let key team members take on responsibility (for better or for worse) so that they develop new skills?

What If Your People Take Their New Skills Elsewhere?

This is a real possibility. Someone with new (and better) skills is more attractive to other companies (including your competitors). It’s actually an argument that some companies have used against developing staff. But it’s shortsighted. Studies increasingly show that employees want more out of a company than a paycheck. They want to be part of something bigger where they make a significant contribution (and are recognized for it). Great employees are looking for companies that have a great corporate culture—one that encourages them to grow.

Is there a risk that you’ll lose some people that you develop? Yes. But that risk is offset by the loyalty you can generate—and the improved performance you’ll gain. If you don’t develop your employees, you won’t move forward.

Make Sure You’re Investing in the Right People

I believe with all my heart that it’s essential to commit to the on-going development of your staff. But you have to make sure you’re investing in the right people. You know the old adage: “You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink.” It’s true with people in a business. As a leader, you have to be committed to helping your people grow. But you also have to make sure you’re investing in the right people. How do you know if you’ve got the right people in place to transform and grow your business? Click on the  “Assess Your People” button to take a very short (2-minute) assessment that will give you an indication. If you discover things that concern you, we can schedule a longer conversation about how to tackle the issues you’re facing.


Related posts:

  1. Scale Up Your Interviewing Skills to Hire Better People
  2. Why Transformation is Necessary to Scale Up Your Business
  3. Growing Your People to Grow Your Business
  4. Why Just Hiring the Right People Isn’t Enough to Grow Your Business