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The 7 Growth Killers


Growth Killer #2: Working In, Not On, Your Business


by Tim Kinney, Strategic Growth Planner I


n last month’s article, we discussed the first growth killer, the management team gap. This month, we’ll explore


the second growth killer – one that attacks over time, even when you have a full management team in place. It is known as “Working In, Not Working On” your business.


Though I had witnessed this


phenomenon earlier in my career, I first learned the term through Michael Gerber’s book, The E-Myth Revisited. What does it mean to be working in, not on your business? Essentially, you become so absorbed with the day-to-day operations of the company, it seems the company can’t function without you. So, the company you started or lead runs you rather than you running the company. This killer is often known by its symptoms:


• Everyone is busy, busy, busy • Calendars are full – meetings, appointments, and calls every day


• The phone is always ringing • Your e-mail box is perpetually full • Every day, a new fire needs to be put out


Then, maybe at the end of the quarter


if you’re paying attention or end of the year, you realize the company hasn’t grown at all. It’s then that you begin to understand that you are consumed by working in, not on your business. You’ve been so busy, you can’t even remember the last time you held a strategy session with your senior management team that wasn’t devoted to day-to-day operations. It could be the second growth killer stalking you.


Why Working On Your Business is Critical to Growth Some businesses really take off and make


26 ❘ May 2019 ®


the headlines. Don’t you hate (or at feel a tinge of professional jealousy) when you read an interview with the hot new CEO who claims that all of their recent growth success just happened and was unplanned. What luck!


Luck is great. But for those of us


who don’t rely on luck, we need a better strategy. Devoting time to work on your business is an essential part of your strategic growth plan. Without it, you business might auto pilot itself to a crash, or at least a loss of market share. It often leads to the dreaded plateau, where business levels off and potentially leads to inertia. We’re focused on growth, but failure to work on your business can also be a killer of other business initiatives, like profitability or quality.


A Quick Test Most of us all have to work IN the business, right? And, that’s probably a good thing since if we spent all of our time working on the business, the whole organization be a constant kaizen event. So, how much time is too much working in your business rather than working on it? Here’s a quick little test to keep it in check.


First, take a single sheet of paper.


On one side, write down the three most important items on your “To Do” list. These items might be for today, or if you’re like me, they are items for the week.


Second, on the back of the same


sheet of paper, write down your company target growth objective. (If you don’t have a growth objective yet, that’s ok. You can write down another key objective for the business, e.g., profitability or some other target.)


Over the past 28 years, Tim Kinney has helped companies generate hundreds of millions in new growth. He is the Vice President of Accident & Health Marketing for Sirius Group, a global reinsurance company. Tim is also a writer, trainer and consultant specializing in strategic growth planning. He is the editor of the blog Growth Monitor Weekly and recently produced an online course, “How To Build Your Growth Strategy.” His book, the Growth Strategist’s Guidebook, is available on Amazon.com.


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