By Jerry Kauffman, EOS Partner
I work with a lot of Leaders and Leadership Teams in small and medium-size businesses. I see them over a wide range of development and maturity as the organizations move along on their journey from early beginnings through various growth stages. Moving through these stages is always “interesting.”
Sometimes easy, sometimes hard, never by luck.
This growth process and the bumpy times are very natural and normal. In an article in the Harvard Business Review entitled “Evolution and Revolution as Organizations Grow,” author Larry Griner calls these transitions “hitting the ceiling.”
Reactions to “Hitting the Ceiling”
Organizations never grow steadily and easily on a straight line. Some times are easy (evolutionary): more of the same, easy growth, fairly comfortable. Some are very difficult (revolutionary): chaotic, very hard, uncomfortable. When organizations “hit the ceiling,” one of three outcomes will occur.
Some level out, or plateau, settle into a new normal, and stay there. This may be fine, if that’s where the organization wants to stay.
Others struggle, live in a chaotic place, lose people, run out of cash, etc. and go backwards or even fail.
The last group figures it out, breaks through the ceiling, and gets back on an upward trajectory.
Breaking Through the Ceiling
In the Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS), I teach leaders the Five Leadership Abilities that help Leaders to first recognize that they are “hitting the ceiling,” then how to break through it to get back on the upward trajectory.
1. Simplify. Where there is complexity, root it out and simplify. When you’re growing and adding things, keep it as simple as you can. Simplicity is SO much easier to explain to folks and implement effectively than complexity. Aligning your team is critical and keeping things simple helps.
2. Delegate (and Elevate). By delegating tasks that others can do just as well (or better) than you, you are free to Elevate yourself to spend more time doing things where you contribute more. Your Unique Ability™ is your God-given talent, what you are hard-wired to do, the things you can do for the organization that nobody else can do.
When you are in the weeds, you are capping the organization’s potential. When you spend time in your Unique Ability™, you are taking the lid off. Ever heard the saying “The neck of the bottle is at the top”?
3. Predict. As leaders, you must predict long term and short term and you must do both well. Long term is 90 days and out – priorities, tactics to make strategy happen, big projects, etc. Short term is less than 90 days – the stuff that’s coming at you from every direction. What can be ignored because it’s noise? What must be addressed immediately to avert disaster? What must be put on the list to be addressed later when the time is right?
4. Systemize. Successful organizations figure out how to be consistent and systematic about how they do things. It gives peace of mind inside the organization; everybody knows we do things the “ABC Company” way. It gives peace of mind to the market; “Our experience with ABC was great last time and it will be again because they’re consistent.”
Side nugget: If people don’t like what you’re consistently good at, they’re probably not an ideal customer.
5. Structure. Make sure you have the “best and right” structure to take your organization where you want it to go. No making jobs to fit the people. No ducking the situations where you have the wrong person in the wrong seat. No floating along doing things “the way we’ve always done them.” No laziness or lack of intentionality.
- Step 1: Make sure you have the right Functions and the reporting structure is clear.
- Step 2: Get crystal clear what each Function is accountable for delivering (accountabilities, not tasks).
- Step 3: Make sure you have the right person (share your Core Values) in the right seat (Get it, Want it, have Capacity). When it’s not RPRS, identify the Issue and have a plan to resolve it. Ignoring never works.
Every organization hits the ceiling. It’s normal and natural. In fact, it happens multiple times. Healthy organizations recognize when they’re hitting the ceiling and use the Five Leadership Abilities to break through and get back on the upward trajectory.
