One of the questions we are asked most frequently is “How to grow a company?” : we have been replying for some time that in order to make a company grow, the people who work there must grow, give them opportunities, tools and development opportunities, and also expand the infrastructures and business relationships.
Too many companies focus only on increasing turnover, risking to lose sight of other important factors of corporate “good health”: the growth of know-how , the growth of internal corporate well – being , the personal growth of their collaborators, the growth of its network of relationships , the growth of its brand , the growth of its value and visibility .
All this should become a widespread factor within the company: a continuous and constant improvement of all elements, structural and human.
For this reason, the most illogical request that can be made to a company and its collaborators is to increase turnover without requiring them to get involved personally and professionally.
And don’t think that by growth I only mean training, as I am a trainer: by growth we also mean innovation , the development of new protocols , new products , new procedures , the consolidation of internal relationships , etc …
I often ask my business clients if they have ever given any books to their collaborators. Often the answer was “I pay him the incentives. They can buy books on their own! “Today, many of them have changed their minds and have understood that the expansion of company know-how takes place through stimuli, sharing, reading, comparisons.
For this reason, any development plan (commercial or otherwise) must also include the updating of skills, roles and responsibilities. And this process must be clear and shared.
But you have to be careful not to think that development is just adding.
Each growth is made up of at least THREE elements:
- eliminate what is not needed;
- continue to do and reinforce what is done well;
- add know-how and skills not yet acquired.
Then there is a fourth element, which serves excellence : the internal sharing of the know-how acquired by the most specialized figures.
For this reason, we have decided to share with you a very useful operating model to understand which direction to give to your growth. This is a PDF datasheet that you can use (or have used) to ask or give feedback, both personal and professional. Just print it and ask at least 5 people for their contribution on the following three elements:
- what should I do less or stop doing;
- what should I do more or do better ;
- what should I continue to do as I do.
And below, instead, you can download the technical data sheet useful for giving feedback to your collaborators. In this case, the form must be filled in by the manager and given to the individual employee.
Here we have added a fourth piece of information: what you should teach others .
I hope these tools can help you with your personal and professional growth. Next week we will continue talking about BUDGET OF SKILLS.
Good growth!
Piercarlo
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