Congratulations! Your business is in Stage 5, the Integration Stage. As the leader of a Stage 5 business, you’ve got a lot of demands on your time and attention. Where do you focus? How do you prioritize?
What research has shown us is that each Stage has its own rules and guidelines. The more you understand the rules, the better you can navigate growth. In other words, you don’t have to reinvent the wheel and figure everything out on your own. Instead, you can benefit from what hundreds of other business owners have learned.
Following is a brief overview of what those rules look like for a Stage 5 business. If you’d like to go deeper, keep reading and explore the resources linked below.
A Quick Overview of Stage 5
One of the biggest threats you are trying to avoid as the leader of a Stage 5 business is allowing the company to develop a silo mentality. It can happen easily, because the previous stage was all about building distinct departments with strong processes and structure. But a silo mentality will prevent the company from growing any further, as departments will be competing against one another for resources. An important tactic to fight this tendency is to grow a leadership team that is made up of key contributors from the management team. Bring them together and implement a shared project management process. This will ensure the organization is capable of initiating and managing change.
Your focus should be on profit at this stage. With so many employees, expenses related to personnel can escalate quickly, a fact that puts many companies at financial risk. To maintain profitability, keep company production capacity between 70-80%. Work with your leadership team to revamp the company’s business model and create an annual budget that integrates all areas of the company.
Set aside capital to invest in growing and training your staff. As a leader, focus on guiding through collaboration, inspiring the team with a grand vision, and building loyalty through comradery.
Go Deeper
Stage 5 Guidebook
The 60-minute Guide to Growth for businesses with between 58-95 employees is a must-have for every owner and leader of a Stage 5 business. The Guidebook explains the primary dimensions of a Stage 5 business, including Leadership Style, Modality, Classic Challenges, and Transition Zones. Each chapter includes illustrations that bring the concepts to life along with practical applications questions you can apply to your business. Get your copy today!
Stage Card
The two-sided Stage Card is an easy way to keep the rules that are most beneficial for your Stage 5 business close at hand. Print a copy and keep it on your desk. Share it with your team. The better you understand the rules, the more focus and clarity you will provide as a leader. Get your free copy now!
Assessments
There are a variety of assessments you can access on our website. Each one addresses a specific area of business, such as leadership, finance, and workplace community. They only take about two minutes to submit, and you’ll receive a valuable download that explains how the rules in that particular area apply to a business of your size. Best of all, these assessments are free! Click the button to start exploring.
The 11 Elements of an Exceptional Business
In this new series—Organizational ReWilding: Elements of an Exceptional Business—we explore each element individually. Each book takes on a different element, explaining the underlying principles and illustrating what the application of those principles looks like in a business. At the end of each chapter, you’ll find a list of application questions designed to help you think through the concepts and apply them to your own situation.
Online Video Series
For those who prefer learning by video, the Stages of Growth Online Series is an excellent resource. Through a series of ten videos, you will learn about the key dimensions, or areas, that make up a business. For every dimension, there is an illustrative story, followed by the principles underlying that dimension, a quiz, and activities to help you apply the knowledge directly to your business.
Find out what other business owners are saying about The ReWild Group.
Visit our Testimonials page to hear first-hand accounts of what other business owners have experienced with Organizational ReWilding®. You’ll find short videos, quotes, and case studies that illustrate the power of the methodology. Check back often for updates! The stories are growing rapidly. (Who knows? Yours might be next …)