Certain companies can surge past the competition and achieve impressive growth when it comes to hot industries like technology, healthcare, or software. And though the formula is always different, these organizations usually share similar traits and beliefs.
5 Things High-Growth Companies Do Well
There are companies, and then there are high-growth companies. While there’s nothing wrong with being in the former category, businesses that fall into the latter tend to experience much more success faster.
Here are a few ways they’re able to accomplish this feat:
- Kaizen Mentality
The word “Kaizen” is a Japanese term that means “continuous improvement” or “change for the better.” Over the years, it’s morphed into a business philosophy focusing on process improvement for organizational growth and success.
And whether they use the term Kaizen or not, most high-growth companies adopt these underlying principles into their processes.
In the most basic sense, Kaizen is a commitment to constant and never-ending improvement. It embodies a blend of strategic principles, such as:
- Never justify established best practices, but always question them.
- See waste and problems as opportunities.
- Always maintain a positive attitude and outlook.
- Seek out daily one percent improvement.
- Seek the wisdom of 10 people rather than the knowledge of one.
- Choose the simplest solution and implement it immediately (rather than waiting for the perfect one).
When you have a Kaizen mentality, everything is on the table. Change is constant and never-ending.
- Preventative Maintenance
High-growth companies don’t sit around and wait for something to happen before acting. This is true in every organization, from sales and marketing to HR and maintenance.
If you look at maintenance, you’ll notice that these organizations always have carefully documented preventative maintenance strategies that address minor issues before they evolve into major (and costly) problems.
Take fleet management, for example. Companies with large fleets rely on fleet maintenance software to ensure they’re achieving lower operating costs by investing in timely maintenance and repairs.
- Clear Hiring Processes
High-growth companies know that the people make the business – not the logo or products. If you have the right talent in the building, you’ll never have trouble pumping out new ideas, products, or innovations.
Hiring good people doesn’t happen by accident. You need to be intentional and use discernment. Transparent hiring processes will help you do this.
As successful entrepreneur Feliks Eyser says, “First-time founders hire one employee out of five applicants after just one or two job interviews. Second-time founders know that recruiting is their top priority in growth mode.”
- Quick to Fail
Slow-growth businesses spend a ton of time preparing for new products, processes, releases, and launches. There are brainstorming sessions, meetings, collaboration sessions, more sessions, more meetings, etc. Planning becomes an obsession, and execution takes a backseat.
High-growth companies, on the other hand, emphasize progress/action over perfection. They’d instead develop a minimally viable product or process, act, and then study the results. They’re okay with failing so long as they’re quick to do it.
When you fail quickly, you also learn quickly. And because it happened so fast, you didn’t sink nearly as many resources into it as you would have if you spent months or years planning. This allows you to recover quickly and get to the next idea or iteration.
- Client-Focused
You can’t build a successful company if all your energy is focused on your brand. You must zoom out and put yourself in your customer’s shoes. Client-focused organizations are much more likely to win in the long run.
How do you become a client-focused company? The rules are quite simple:
- Know who your target audience is (using rich customer profiling)
- Ask (and listen) to what your customers want
- Focus on giving before ever asking
- Build a brand around helping your clients achieve their biggest desires
While these principles are easy in theory, they require a ton of discipline and energy to execute. Make sure you develop rules and processes that help you achieve these goals.
Putting it All Together
No two companies are the same. However, you’ll almost always find these five traits in a high-growth company. By integrating them into your organization, you can increase your chances for efficient growth. Good luck!
