The Four Pillars of Business Growth

In today’s constantly evolving business landscape, growth is critical to ensure business success and longevity. Now, more than ever, businesses require strong infrastructure and a multifaceted approach to optimize and achieve growth. In scaling for success, the four key pillars of successful business growth are…

1. Strategy

Creating a truly differentiated strategy

Once you have recognized a growth opportunity or need for your business, your first step is to develop a strategy for direction. This strategic plan will also act as a reference point as you adapt to challenges and innovate and pivot for opportunities. As the industry or market changes (sometimes rapidly), it is important to remember that all good plans have the capabilities to adjust to the environment.

When strategizing, ask yourself and your business:

Will what we are planning matter to our customers?
Will our plan differentiate us from our competitors?

If you answered ‘yes’ to both, your strategy is on track to scale your business for success.

When it comes to your strategic plan – commit to it, own it, share it with pride and use it.

2. Cash

Having plenty of cash to weather the storms

The next pillar is cash – optimizing cashflow to weather any storms that may come your way. Having the right amount of cash at the right time will be central to the execution of your strategy. Just as you will need to consider how each decision in your plan may affect profitability and revenue, you will need to account for cashflow.

When establishing your cash fundamentals, you should:

Forecast your cashflow considering what you expect the inputs and drivers to be.
Evaluate your long-term cash needs to determine when and where you will need cash infusions.
Set your business up to improve your existing Cash Conversion Cycle.

3. People

Attracting and keeping the right people

After you have an established strategy and optimized your cashflow, you will need to focus on your people. You now have the direction of your business mapped out, but do you have the right people to help execute your plan and navigate any obstacles?

To ensure you hire the right people for your business, you will need to create leadership guidelines and design the motivations that will lead to growth in your planned direction. This includes:

Determining the number of people required.
Defining what makes the right person right – alignment with your company values, mission and vision.
Developing and implementing rules that you consistently exhibit in your own daily business dealings – lead by example.
Hiring the right people for the right position.

4. Execution

Driving flawless execution

Driving flawless execution will be your fourth and final pillar in preparing your business for growth. It is essential to have the strategy, cashflow and the right people in place to ensure you execute your growth plan as accurately to your direction as possible.

Successful execution will involve:

Setting a number of priorities.
Gathering qualitative and quantitative data to measure your growth.
Establishing a schedule to ensure everyone in the business is consistently up to date.
Adjusting the plan, where necessary.
Adapting, innovating and pivoting to handle challenges and optimize opportunities.

The four pillars are essential to the success of a business’s growth plan. By putting the time and energy outlined above into your growth plan, you are scaling your business for success.

Want to grow your business and scale for success?

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