Building a Growth Culture

How can I build and sustain a growth culture within my organization?

Growth – whether organic or acquisitive – is a prerequisite for top-tier performance over the long term, but it's hard to find and even harder to sustain profitably. Organizations that succeed establish a growth culture in which managers are constantly looking for and evaluating new opportunities – new markets to enter, new customers to approach, new products to create, new targets to acquire – all with an eye toward value creation.

To develop this organizational growth capability, leaders should:

• Challenge the enterprise not only to grow, but to do so profitably
• Champion the development of deep customer insight to identify headroom for growth in new and existing customers and markets
• Establish a climate that encourages innovation, risk-taking and prioritization
• Continuously screen chosen markets for acquisition opportunities that will realize their strategies faster than organic growth alone can
• Have the conviction to walk away from deals from which they cannot comfortably create value for customers and the enterprise