Impediments to Growth

One of the things I always tell the founders of Expansion Stage companies is they are the largest impediment to growth. I know this sounds a bit harsh, however, let me explain.

Peter Drucker said it well “The bottleneck is always at the top of the bottle“, meaning leaders must be willing to “crown the company”, as Keith McFarland terms it in The Breakthrough Company. 

Keith’s research suggests that in order to achieve breakthrough, a company’s leaders must be willing to put the interests of the company above their own, harnessing the power of people at all levels in building the company’s future. All too often, leaders who achieve success, tend to make their organizations all about them.

At OpenView Venture Partners, we have begun to lay the foundation for “crowning the firm”. This is not something that is accomplished overnight, rather people must feel a sense of empowerment, commitment and accountability to building something great. 

Several months ago, everyone in the firm attended The Attentional and Interpersonal Style (TAIS) training delivered by The Winning Minds Group.  TAIS* has been used for more than 30 years to select and train high-performance individuals such as Olympic athletes, military commandos, and top business executives. This assessment device is used around the world for selection, screening, team building, and performance enhancement useful in understanding each individual’s strengths and vulnerabilities and how they complement each other.

Complimenting the TAIS training is what is referred to as the Six Circles of Execution. Concentric circles building on each other until you reach the core of execution. For example, everyone must bring ones best self every day. From this, we build trust, then direct communications, commitment, accountability and then execution. Getting to the core of this builds interdependence as an organization and ultimately “crowning the company”.

Are you building a breakthrough company?

*Dr. Robert M. Nideffer is the author of TAIS