Fast-growth businesses, led by energetic, high-paced, inspirational visionaries, who have the ability to generate innovative ideas and translate (some of) these into practical commercial applications, often face challenges that result from a business’ own success.
How can this be? Surely fast-growth businesses, characterized by the practical realization of an entrepreneur’s own vision and drive, evidenced by measures such as improved market penetration, profit growth and hiring more people, means that everything is “heading in the right direction,” right? Well, it’s not always so.
Growing pains can lead to the entrepreneur feeling distanced from the front-end of the business. This can occur as the founder feels or sees the customer-facing part of the business failing to meet the standards of service-delivery that he/she identified as the vital defining qualities to differentiate it from the competition. The fundamental principles and values that had been the key ingredients of the founder’s original vision become diluted. This can be caused by employees not having the same levels of engagement, drive or commitment to the cause upon which the business’ very foundations have been built.