It’s a familiar part of life’s journey that I’m currently experiencing up close and personally: I’m helping a close relative downsize their home as they prepare for the next stage of life. The good news, is that this person is really excited about the change – and the focus that their smaller and more specific home will provide.
While that mindset helps a great deal, the work itself is still not easy. What objects should stay for rich reminders of the past, and what ones need to be moved on to a new purpose? What things are no longer needed in this new phase? Can the surplus serve others?
It’s much like our friend Marie says on Netflix:“Does it fit in your future?”
It’s striking how much this work is mirrored in the firms I serve that are turning the corner from their “fun” start-up days into full-fledged, high performance thoroughbreds.
To be clear, these are firms that have chosen to develop into larger firms. Some firms decide to stay in their youthful phase by keeping themselves small and very focused. A classic example is the Basecamp business (more here), which made a decision to stay lean and double down on their core business.
But when firms make the decision to grow, they have made a decision to transform. This transformation is very significant and changes the way people interact, make decisions and develop new products for their customers. Usually the leaders of the firm make this decision because they are enjoying growing their firm and want it to become as helpful and valuable as the market will allow.
Once undertaken, these changes are much like a hero’s journey, and they ask a lot of the firm and its leaders.
This work has three steps:
- The firm needs to realize that they can’t stay the same and grow to meet their full potential. The ad hoc approach to hiring, process and client fulfillment simply cannot match the complexity and volume of the new world they are entering into. It’s ironic that the scrappy “we can do it all” approach that gets firms to this point becomes a key reason they are struggling.
- They need to get really clear on who they are becoming. This sounds easy, but as you do the work to clearly vision the near future, you’ll find a variety of viewpoints. Those who were there at the founding want to go back and “do it like we did in the old days,” while those who are newly on board want to put their foot on the accelerator toward the new and undiscovered. Having a productive dialogue and mapping the destination clears the decks for the next phase.
- Lastly, the firms needs to take concrete steps to make the picture come alive. This is where many firms try to start, by incrementally taking future steps without doing the work to commit to and clearly describe where they are headed. Inevitably this leads to chaos and factioning between groups, which can result in the firm backing away from its mission to reduce conflict and reinstall consensus. Once a firm has hit this wall a time or two, it tends to become gun shy and fails to live up to its market potential.
The single hardest part about this work – both personally and also with our firms – is that there will always be some elements of the past that just cannot come with us to the new space.
We need to say goodbye.
Let’s be very honest here. This is extremely hard to do both personally and professionally – especially with people who have been part of the firm’s founding and who have put in the blood and sweat to get it where it is today. There are some folks who value their autonomy and independence so much, that they cannot bring it under the umbrella of a more professional operating structure. They will look you in the eyes and promise to work with their new leader…only to go right around them again. They just can’t help it.
The mindset that makes it possible to have the resolve to move on these challenging decisions is simple, yet profound:
It is that each firm needs to take stewardship of its future.
If you try to go to the new place with people who are in love with the past, they will pull you back there like gravity. You will find that your ability to commit to this stewardship is directly proportional to the clarity you have about where you are taking the firm.
Just as my family member is gifting things to organizations that can put them to work, it is time to allow these people to make their contribution at a new firm that needs their ability to improvise and deliver in unstructured environments. This resolve can only be found by working in steps one and two above.
The good news is that once this work is done, amazing things begin to happen. Capable new people are attracted to your firm by the fresh and uncluttered space you have created. The growth is organic and intoxicating.
How about you – what do you need to say goodbye to?
If this resonates with where you are as a firm, we should talk. My professional journey has allowed me to have a unique background to help you find those key areas to work on that will release the growth within your firm. You can contact me directly at 847-651-1014 or use this link to set up a no-strings-attached call.
I look forward to talking soon, and in the meantime, embrace your new future.
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