Navigating Growth: Where are You on the 7 Stages of Business Development?
Summary: The journey from startup to mature organization is an exhilarating and challenging adventure. Many startups aspire to evolve into mature entities, but only a select few successfully navigate the complexities of growth. Let’s explore critical stages that can help your company transition smoothly to become a mature organization.
Dear Dr. Sylvia,
I am the Founder and CEO of an apparel brand that has moved from startup to a new level of development.
For this reason, I would appreciate a list of the critical phases as a company changes from infancy to adolescence and then to adulthood maturity.
For example, this time in my business reminds me of when my eldest daughter went to kindergarten. Suddenly, she was grown up enough to say, “Daddy, I can do it myself.” And she was confident enough to do many things independently without too much supervision.
The business lifestyle is similar to the human life cycle.
In other words, that’s what I want for my leadership team. I hope they can come to me with suggestions and solutions I can sign off on without worry.
Furthermore, I know you teach about making decisions, and I would like a clear plan they can follow.
Signed,
Raring to GO
Dear Raring to GO,
Firstly, congrats on moving from startup to the next level of leadership development.
Moreover, are you aware that the Small Business Administration states that only 30 percent of startups survive at the ten-year mark?
Consequently, on average, about 4 million businesses are started annually in the United States. However, 18 percent don’t make it to their first birthday. And 50 percent fail within five years.
To be successful, it is vital to understand the seven phases of the business life cycle and how each impacts the company.
For example, during a growth phase, there is a change from intuitive “let’s take a chance” to data-driven, “What are the numbers telling us to do now?”
Most importantly, here are the seven stages of the business life cycle:
- Conception Phase: Dream the dream. Then, brainstorm and research the potential for long-term success.
- Startup Phase: Find your footing in the marketplace. This is an exciting time filled with risks. Employees who love the adrenaline rush often go from one new organization to another to “feel alive.
- Early growth phase: Cash flow and income increase. There is a sense of relief that the company will succeed. There can be pushback with a desire to slow down, not want to move as fast.
Different skills are critical for each phase of the business life cycle.
4. Rapid growth phase: Systematize and streamline operations to standardize the customer experience. There is renewed clarity that product or service shortages or delays can harm your reputation and stress customer relations. There is a need for leaders who have the expertise to “fail fast and move on” during this time.
5. Maturing phase: Time to reinvent and remain flexible. This is the time to keep core beliefs in the product or service front and center so the primary mission stays clear and concise.
6. Innovative phase: Decisions made to continue to grow, change, and add more seasoned leaders. This has some of the energy of the conception and startup phases.
7. Completion or decline phase: This is the time to decide to sell the company or close it down. It is often a difficult time. The Founder may need help sorting out their feelings about health, wealth, and aging.
Transitions from one stage to the next take people skills and self-awareness.
As an illustration, I find it fascinating that the business life cycle is the same as the human life cycle. You can read more about how your original organization and the family appear in your present organization at work.
In conclusion, moving from a startup to a mature organization is challenging but rewarding. Many who were there in the conception and startup phases are no longer in the more traditional mature phase. Different personality types and divergent wants and needs determine who stays and who goes.
Above all, where do you fit into the continuum of the business phase of your organization?
To your success,
Sylvia Lafair
PS. Want help with the 4 C’s of successful organizations at any development phase? Learn more about the C’s: Communication, Creativity, Conflict Resolution, and Collaboration. Contact us at www.ceoptions.com.