After Training Resources
Consider this…
Recently Wyoming grew its population by a whopping 1%. That's like having the entire town of Maquoketa Iowa (population 6,083) move to Wyoming.
Interestingly enough, California also grew by 1%. That's like having the entire city of Pittsburgh Pennsylvania pack up their bags and move to the west coast.
When a company grows by 1% it might not seem like a big deal, but you need to remember that it depends on the size of the company. For example, Wal-Mart is massive – to grow by just a measly percent they would have to increase sales by five buh-buh-billion dollars! That's like having every American (including children and little babies) walk into Wal-Mart and purchase $16 worth of stuff. That doesn't sound so measly.
While investors expect growth, employees are energized by it, customers are attracted to it, and executives are measured by it – it's important to keep growth in perspective and have a clear understanding of what it takes grow a company.
Click through the slides as a team and complete the activity…
Acumen In Action™
In your next team meeting click through the slideshow and use your business acumen to explore the following:
Why do investors expect growth?
Why is growth important to employees?
Why would a customer like growth? Why would they not?
How much did our Revenues/Sales grow in the last year?
How much did our Profit/Income grow in the last year?
Are we beating growth expectations or falling short?
What are our company's growth initiatives? List the initiatives on the board.
How can our team support these initiatives? Capture the ideas on the board.
Seeing the Big Picture
If you and your team have the book Seeing the Big Picture (Greenleaf, 2012) turn to page 67 and read the section on Why Focus On Growth.