What Does “Reaching the Next Level” Mean to You?

Companies that only prosper when their economy is on an uptick will struggle when their industry matures or declines. Successful business leaders know that what got them to where they are today won’t get them to a higher level. They believe that they must continually develop key aspect(s) of their business in order to thrive.

You may be granted a temporary visit to the next level, but unless you hire and/or train the right people and invest in processes that foster growth, efficiency and consistency, you will most likely slip back to the prior level. Staying power requires a valid growth strategy and a strong desire to prevent slippage.

Consider concentration and/or diversification growth strategies to guide your decisions.

Vertical and Horizontal Growth

Grow horizontally by expanding the product-market matrix through internal development and through acquisitions and alliances.

Achieve vertical growth by performing function[s] that were previously provided by suppliers.

Growth through Diversification

Concentric diversification leverages a competitive advantage to secure a strategic position in new categories. Examples include healthcare firms diversifying into the wellness industry and telecom companies diversifying into the Internet services industry.

Financial and risk reduction needs spawn conglomerate diversification that expands a company into unrelated categories. For example, Disney diversified from movies into theme parks.

Quantum Physics Concepts Can Guide Your Business Leap

In physics a quantum leap is a significant increase in the energy level of an electron that propels it to a higher orbit. There is no in-between state, so an electron can never exist between allowed orbits. When an electron successfully leaps to another level, it has the power to remain there, but if it doesn’t achieve the next allowed orbit, it will fall back to its original state.

This analogy applies to leaders who want to elevate some aspect of their business to a higher level of excellence. They need to establish a goal, get there and stay there. An expanded leadership style will most likely be required. Can the current leaders evolve or does the organization need to recruit new leaders from within or externally? Before you can strive for excellence, you have to “want to”. In fact, “need to” isn’t enough. You can be pressured to do something or learn something or know that something is the right thing to do, but if you don’t want to do it, you won’t make it happen.

Can you translate this thought into a methodology for elevating some aspect of your business to a noticeably higher steady state? An integrated marketing, sales and support environment will drive the need to elevate internal operational process in order to be able to deliver on your brand promise and to achieve customer satisfaction, revenue, productivity, market share and profitability goals. If you make the necessary changes to reach the next level, this will become your steady state. Otherwise, results will revert back to their original state and maybe even lower.