WHAT WE DO + HOW WE EXECUTE
Methodologies
Scalability starts with you and your Leadership Team. We have the methods, programs, and tools you need to take your team and your business to the next level.
01 — The Structures
Stage One vs. Stage Two
When a founder takes The First Leap to launch her new business, nearly everything depends upon her. So, it is natural for her to adopt a Stage One structure for her new company.
The Stage One structure is boss-centric, with the CEO at the center of the action. Like a spider on her web, she wants to feel the vibrations from every thread, and she is always ready to pounce.
The Stage One organization exists to support the CEO’s work. She calls the shots, and she expands by hiring people to prop her up, to assemble, sell, or deliver her products and services, all according to her explicit instructions.
Within the Stage One structure, our founder runs the company. She has the answers, she sets the standards, she holds the purse strings, and she makes the decisions. Jim Collins, in his wonderful book Good to Great, calls this configuration The Genius With a Thousand Helpers.
The Stage One structure is highly effective. Most of the companies in the world are Stage One boutiques, and most of them are profitable, comfortable, and sustainable. They tend to be small businesses, but not always. The Stage One structure serves stakeholders well, until complexity boils over…
Stage Two Companies are much more scalable. They are organized by function, and they are systems based.
In a Stage Two company, the Leadership Team runs the business, and the CEO leads the Leadership Team. This requires a profound transformation from Stage One, but it makes all the difference in the world. The Second Leap will set you free.
Side by side
Here are some specific differences between Stage One and Stage Two:
STAGE ONE
vs.
STAGE TWO
Implicit Culture
Explicit Culture
Personality-based Org. Structure
Position-based Org. Structure
Customized Offerings and Processes
Systems-based Operations
Boss-centric Decision Making
Empowered Leadership Team
CEO's Job: Run the Company
CEO's Job: Build & support the LT
Be a strategist
Lead the LT
02 — The Framework
The Structural Framework
The essence of The Second Leap is to trust other people to do the day-to-day work in your business or department so you can focus on tasks that are more strategic, more important, and more pleasant.
To make that happen, you must establish teams, operational systems, and standards that can sustain themselves, report their progress, and continuously improve.
There is a simple and effective organizing framework for this. It is based on The Six Scalabilities. You can think of them as the muscle groups of your company:
Each Scalability carries a core Promise
- 01
Leadership & Culture
Clarity
- 02
Growth Engine
Customers
- 03
Business Model & Finance
Money
- 04
Team Alignment & Capacity
Leverage
- 05
Technology & Infrastructure
Power
- 06
Operations & Innovation
Effectiveness
Scalability Framework, Level Two
Level Two of the Scalability Framework provides a discrete set of benchmarks that will unlock your potential.
Clarity
Leadership & Culture
Customers
Growth Engine
Money
Business Model & Finance
Leverage
Team Alignment & Capacity
Power
Technology & Infrastructure
Effectiveness
Operations & Innovation
The Scalability Framework has proven effective across every industry sector, particularly manufacturing. If you apply it to your business, your Leadership Team will share a powerful series of organizing principles, a common vocabulary, and set of procedures and standards that they can use to run the day-to-day operations of your company.
If you can bring all twenty-four Scalability Benchmark Elements up to even a basic level, your company will be 80 to 90% scalable, and you will be on the right track.
03 — The Ratio
The Leadership Framework
This deceptively simple fraction will change your life.
We call it the Leadership Leverage Ratio (LLr). It is a performance multiplier that will transform your effectiveness as a leader. And it is a fun way to live. Here is a basic expression of Levels One and Two:
Fully expressed, the Leadership Leverage Ratio looks like this:
People
- I = individual
- G = group
- L = you
Meaning
- P = Purpose
- D = Direction
- S = Standards
Self
- Pi = Personal interest
- D = Dominance
- R = Reactivity
Burden
- C = control
- M = monkeys
- V = victim mentality
It may seem complicated, but if you give it a chance, you will find that the logic is simple and instantly rewarding. Here are the outcomes you can expect:
Empowered Individuals
People who feel supported and are hungry, humble, and smart.
Healthy Groups
Teams that radiate trust, togetherness, clarity and purpose.
Psychological Safety
An atmosphere of relaxed and focused, radiating proactive intensity.
Aspirational Transparency
Customer-centric, fully informed, and eager to work and win.
Growth Mindset
Relentlessly improving systems, processes, knowledge, and offerings.
Talent Density
Excellent, committed people doing extraordinary things.
Give us a call if you want to learn more about the Leadership Leverage Ratio. We will be happy to walk you through it.