Growing Stage | weconnectinternational.org

YOUR READINESS LEVEL IS: GROWING

Congratulations! This means that you are on the right track to reach a steady growth trajectory. It is time to think about all the critical aspects that can speed up or hamper your growth. At this stage, it is fundamental that you collect the data to understand what works and what does not to start setting priorities and preparing for more dynamic scenarios, for example, an opportunity for a contract with a large buyer.

Here are some recommendations based on your answers:

Strategy

You may be starting to question if your end results meet the strategy you set at the beginning of the year or even at the beginning of your operations; if this is the case, you may want to revisit your strategy to make sure that it is in synchrony with what you are achieving. In addition, evaluating what you have attained thus far can make you rethink what you want your company to accomplish in the long run and adapt your strategy and action plan accordingly.

Commercial

You may have already discovered that marketing and sales need to go hand in hand. And that you can establish processes to improve your capacity to follow up with potential clients and strengthen fidelity with existing ones. It is important that you establish key performance indicators to measure progress towards revenue growth at this stage. Are your marketing and sales yielding profit?

Finance

At this stage, you are implementing some good financial management practices. However, you may still struggle with understanding your financial capacity to meet new opportunities, like a contract with a large buyer. Therefore, it is crucial that you understand your operating cash cycle to determine when it is time to request external funding input and what options to consider.

Operations

Your company may be in the process of transitioning from functional to process focus. The priority should be to continue pursuing integration across areas. It may be an excellent time to analyze if outsourcing some targeted business processes can reduce costs and enable integration.

People

You are probably in the phase in which you need to grow your team. Keep in mind two important considerations. First, implementing good hiring practices from the start can guarantee that you hire the right team to succeed. Additionally, the capacity to execute effectively and efficiently will become paramount. So, as you grow, it is essential to enable collaboration and formal paths of communication.