Growing up on a small farm in South Georgia, I learned at an early age there were laws that governed the growth of crops and animals. Now as an adult I hear everyone talking about growing a business, growing a family, growing a political party, growing a church – it seems like everybody is trying to grow something!! It has occurred to me that the Laws of Growth I learned on the farm about growing an organism might also apply to grow an organization.
The First Law of Growth is that Growth is the NATURAL RESULT of a healthy organism. We did not go out every morning and wake the cows up and encourage them to grow! We kept them fed and watered and they just grew! For those of you who have children, you never had to go in the baby’s room and tell Junior it was time to start stretching so he would grow! You just had to keep him fed and watered and he grew!
May I be so bold as to suggest that if we have a healthy organization, it too will naturally grow? If we build an organization where people want to work and contribute, they will not want to leave and will become a brand ambassador for other people looking for a healthy work environment. And our clients and customers will benefit from their loyalty and will want to purchase as many of our products and services as they can use, and they too will become brand ambassadors for others needing what you provide!
So how do you go about creating that healthy organization?
The Second Law of Growth is you must Plant the Seeds to Reap a Harvest. You can’t just lay the seeds on top of the ground and expect to reap anything on the farm, and you can’t just talk about what you’re going to do, you must actually DO something!
You have to break up the fallow ground, plow it up, loosen the soil, allow it to breathe and accept rainwater! When is the last time you took a long, hard look at how you do what it is that you do? How long have you been doing the same old thing the same old way? Are there parts of your organization that needs the refreshing of a good plowing?
Now, this is not the “just change something to be changing” mantra, but would any of your key people benefit from some additional training or a motivational seminar? Are there processes that could be changed to produce better outcomes? Would it help to have a consultant or outside advisor come in and give your organization a complete evaluation top to bottom? What would happen in your organization if you pulled your salespeople into work in operations and sent your operations people out to make sales calls – even for a short period of time?
It has been said that a RUT is just a grave with the ends knocked out and ruts can be deadly in an organization if not plowed up!
The Third Law is you REAP what you SOW! This could be a book in itself! You will reap the ATTITUDE you sow! You will reap the employees you hire! You will reap the character you develop! You will reap the policies you implement!
On the farm, it didn’t cost much more to purchase the BEST seeds, and, in the long run, they always gave the best yield. Might I propose that hiring the best people will, in the long run, be your best bargain? Hiring less than the best is a false economy – you will always get what you pay for!
The Fourth Law is that your Harvest is directly proportional to the care you provide your crops. You have to make sure your plants are receiving adequate water and fertilizer, and your employees must be receiving adequate compensation and training! Your clients and customers must be receiving high-touch relationships and quality products and services! Start being stingy and your organization will react.
The Fifth Law is you must PULL the WEEDS! If there is someone in your organization that is not contributing, either motivate them, train them or fire them. If there is anyone sowing discord, fire them immediately. Crops cannot compete with weeds for water and fertilizer and your employees are not going to thrive with negativity in their world. And dare I say sometimes a client or customer can become a weed. Don’t be afraid to fire one of them if they are creating more problems than they are worth.
The Sixth Law is you will always reap MORE than you sow! For every seed of corn you plant, you will reap 2 to 4 EARS of corn come the harvest! There should be a positive ROI on every employee and every customer, and that ROI is going to be influenced by how well the leader leads. Unfortunately, this law also works in the negative – reaping more grief than was sown.
The Seventh Law is you reap LATER than you sow! There is no magic wand to instantly create a healthy organization. It takes time for the efforts you put in to produce the results you are wanting, but don’t let that discourage you from starting the process. Consider it motivation to start NOW! Get a sense of urgency about creating a great organization.
So, in closing, I recall the words of Kevin Costner in The Field of Dreams, you build a healthy organization and they will come! Employees will come! Clients and customers will come! Profits will come!
Ralph Watson has a varied and extensive career spanning 45 years of increasingly responsible positions in both sales and operations in a very diverse mix of industry specialties, including food processing, textile and apparel, financial services, and professional management consulting.
Ralph served as a Senior Executive Analyst with a number of international consulting companies focused on the family-owned, privately held market where he distinguished himself as one of the top analysts in a highly competitive field. In early 2014, he personally coached 10 businesses in Europe.
Ralph C. Watson, Jr. 404-520-1030
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Outside of a preacher in a small church, I don’t know of a more lonely calling than a small business owner.
Early in my career, I learned that it is unwise to rebuild a retail outlet on site when there is an option to build on another site better positioned to serve the trade area. Taking an outlet off-line for reconstruction, forced our customers to seek alternatives. They began shopping with other brands, creating new habits. And, the rebuilt outlet seldom regained their full sales volume. It was a bad investment. Building a new outlet in a better location avoided the lost revenue while creating excitement for the new store. It was usually a better investment.