Growing, successful companies reach a number of critical paths during their life cycle. As organizations grow, 3 key areas surface, needing attention. If the areas are not addressed, chaos ensues, and employee effort leaves the office at five when folks go home. The owner or executive claiming there is no time for these activities often ends up needing more extensive repair to reduce high turnover, and stress, increase morale and strive for higher productivity. These issues create breaking points when staffing reaches 6-8 people, and reaches critical stages when those numbers double, and double again.

     Let's call the three key areas "The Success Trilogy." The astute business owner or department head that applies the trilogy with enthusiasm and rigor sees commitment, energy and spirit applied to the success of the company. The elements of "The Success Trilogy are: 1. A clarified and clearly communicated vision, mission and supporting goals. 2. Periodic process and operations improvement analysis, and 3. Leadership and management skill development.

     The first, and foundational aspect of the trilogy is creating a clear vision, which leads to a written mission and spawns specific goals. This effort aligns staff's commitment. Employees often cite confusion about the direction and key focus of a company. As firms grow, the capabilities grow, and the original focus shifts. More areas get added, but which aspect has priority? Why? What type of clients offer the best profitability? What do clients state is working well? What do clients want that they are not getting? If you obtained new clients sought, could the company service them with the current structure, procedures and staffing? What kind of growth do you seek? What facilities are needed to support the growth? What information management systems and hardware would support the current situation and future growth? What skills are needed to support the vision? Are the vision, mission and goals written, and clearly communicated to all? Does the office manager or each department manager have clearly stated goals that feed into the organization's goals? Are expectations about performance clearly stated and related to the goals? Does everyone act each day to support the goals? This type of analysis often requires an off-site strategic planning session with all members of the organization. Many business owners are surprised when their staff cites more far reaching growth opportunities and markets than the owner would on his or her own. This effort is not complete unless you also develop actions to accomplish goals and a subsequent communication strategy to maintain alignment. With each growth spurt, the time the owner needs to spend on clarifying, conveying and communicating the vision and goals goes up.

     The second aspect of the trilogy is to analyze procedures and look for ways to improve efficiency. It's amazing how quickly processes take on a life of their own, and continue when they no longer add value. Conversely, as companies grow, new procedures that aid greater visibility and status need implementation. It's also important to move perceived obstacles out of the way to increase efficiency and productivity. Not addressing the niggling things creates a morale problem and leads to high stress. These are the day to day annoyances that wear people down and reduce their commitment. Conducting periodic on site process analysis sessions with all members of staff enlightens everyone. People are often amazed at how long certain procedures take, what falls through the cracks and the difference between "hands on" time and "net allowed" time. The staff usually offers important insights and ideas to correct these issues. Developing an implementation plan with specific target dates helps launch the improvements. Sometimes the analysis alone inspires changes by simply bringing issues into the field of vision.

     The third leg of the trilogy, leadership and management skill development, may take on different forms. For some companies, the focus centers around increased project management skills. For others the focus might be budget control. Most companies, however, need leadership skills, since few experts in technical, clerical or clinical fields receive training in this area. Most supervisors and managers are promoted because they bring technical, clinical or clerical expertise. Interestingly, they are promoted right out of their excellence. This often leads to disappointing performance as managers. Leadership demands strong planning, interpersonal, and coaching skills.

     Additionally, many people in small companies lack the knowledge of applying several project management techniques and tools that provide visibility and schedule conformance. For example, are there tracking methods for the status of each project? Are they visible to all members of the organization? What methods are used to set priorities when all projects need the skills of one person? Typically, managers need skill development in the human relations aspect of their management role. Do supervisors, team leaders and managers know how to successfully delegate? Do they know how to develop staff so people can effectively take on more responsibility? Do managers have clearly communicated expectations so they can coach staff about what is working well and what needs correction? Do they know what motivates and de-motivates staff? Do they know what to do about motivation, stress, or variances on assignments? The best way to approach skill development is to assess current skill levels and project management methods. Implementing a personal coaching strategy and/or a continuous educational program to address gaps in skills helps the managers achieve success, but the strategy must link to the organizational goals developed in the vision, mission and goal setting session.

     Applying The Success Trilogy leads to a more productive, satisfying workplace. Avoid chaos in your company, and increase commitment, spirit and enthusiasm by clarifying the vision, analyzing procedures and supporting leadership development.

Betty Myers, President of Kaleidosystems, consults with executives seeking high morale and productivity. She designs customized strategic planning seminars geared at developing leadership skills, team vision and individual effectiveness. Call her at 410-997-2052, or email her.