An excellent key metric that I have used\nboth for our own company and many of our customers is that, when management\nsits down to consider significant growth over time, then four times the current\nsize is the way to go. If, like us, you maintain a 50% growth rate, you will be\nthere in three years. This is of course a very steep rate of growth; however,\neven if your actual expansion proves to be less dramatic, this approach will\nchallenge you in exactly the same way as a good corporate vision and help you\nto restructure to reach your goal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The consultancy sector is all about\nattracting the right expertise to enable growth or streamline operations to\nincrease profitability. Even here, it is enormously helpful to plan from a\nbroader perspective. You may already have mastered agile processes and\ncontinuously appraise exactly what works for you at any given time. If you can\ncombine this with long-term thinking and established structures for growth, you\nwill have something very powerful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
How to think 4 x bigger<\/strong><\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n4 x bigger \u2013 Organisation:<\/strong>\nEven when growth is a given, it is a good to have a clear idea of what the\norganisation might look like as step-by-step you increase recruitment. If it is\nalready hard to pull everything together, the strain on the organisation will\nincrease considerably in parallel with your expansion. Instead, you should have\na clear picture of how you will need to restructure as the number of\ncolleagues, assignments and hours quadruples.<\/p>\n\n\n\nOur own approach was to draw up an\norganisational chart for a company with 80 employees while there were still\nonly 20 of us, with a name for each position even if many of these appeared\nseveral times. Then, we simply needed to fill in the organisational chart as\nand when the company grew. This creates a level of discussion that creates the\npreconditions for growth with the minimum of growing pains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For example, what happens if you create a\nrecruitment function while you have only 20 employees and measure this as if it\nwere sales or marketing. This is what we did and it proved to be a crucial\nadvantage when the time came to grow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
4 x bigger \u2013 Culture:<\/strong>\nWhen a consultancy grows, it may find that new demands are placed on its\ncorporate culture. A deeply rooted corporate culture affects how effectively\nnew colleagues take responsibility; they know what is expected of them and are\nable to contribute in the desired manner and it affects everything from stress\nlevels and creativity to efficiency.<\/p>\n\n\n\nIt also helps to define how attractive you\nare as an employer \u2013 something that in the consultancy sector is completely\ncrucial to whether growth is even an option. A strong corporate culture gives\nyou a strong competitive edge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
4 x bigger \u2013 Leadership:<\/strong>\nEven in terms of leadership, it is possible to think in terms of four times\nbigger than you are today. That your current leaders have their own ideas about\nleadership is great, but how is this transmitted to everyone else? Leadership\naffects many people in a growing business, even in flat organisations in which\neveryone is required to lead. Greater demands are continuously placed on\nonboarding, monitoring and development. Timely investment in leadership has\npositive short and long-term consequences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n4 x bigger \u2013 Capacity:<\/strong>\nEarly in your company\u2019s journey it may work perfectly well to keep track of\nyour capacity with simple means; however, how do you administer a structure\ndesigned to cope with multiple consultants working on both long and short-term\nassignments? This demands entirely different processes if it is to be managed\neffectively. It also has an enormous impact on your bottom line.<\/p>\n\n\n\nIn a consultancy sector where a lack of assignments\nis often not the problem, it is even more important to have structures in place\nin good time that can streamline administration, cut unnecessary overheads and\nincrease margins.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
4 x bigger \u2013 Monitoring:<\/strong>\nIn a company with only a few employees, everyone is aware of most ongoing\nprojects and which may be more or less profitable. When the size of the\nbusiness grows and data is less readily available, it becomes considerably more\ndifficult to know exactly how things are going.<\/p>\n\n\n\nStructured monitoring helps you to see\nboth how it is going for the company and why. This is a prerequisite both for\nbecoming 4 x bigger and for mapping out your journey there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
4 x bigger \u2013 Commission:<\/strong>\nConsultancies in general have more or less complicated commission models and\nare often under the impression that the particular model they have chosen is\nstandard, but with a twist. In the long term, such models can greatly increase\nadministration costs and hinder automation. Here, it is better to keep it\nsimple by implementing simple, transparent models. If you start out needing\nmanual administration to calculate commission, you can count on this becoming\nincreasingly difficult over time.<\/p>\n\n\n\nIn principle, you can apply the 4 x\nperspective to anything. Take whatever problems you are wrestling with right\nnow and place them in a 4 x perspective. See what happens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Automate to avoid your problems growing\nexponentially<\/strong><\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\nNow that we live in a world with quality\ndigital services that to a greater or lesser extent automate various processes,\nit is important that you keep abreast of technical developments \u2013 even in those\nfields that may seem boring, such as bookkeeping and auditing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Our own approach was to draw up an\norganisational chart for a company with 80 employees while there were still\nonly 20 of us, with a name for each position even if many of these appeared\nseveral times. Then, we simply needed to fill in the organisational chart as\nand when the company grew. This creates a level of discussion that creates the\npreconditions for growth with the minimum of growing pains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For example, what happens if you create a\nrecruitment function while you have only 20 employees and measure this as if it\nwere sales or marketing. This is what we did and it proved to be a crucial\nadvantage when the time came to grow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
4 x bigger \u2013 Culture:<\/strong>\nWhen a consultancy grows, it may find that new demands are placed on its\ncorporate culture. A deeply rooted corporate culture affects how effectively\nnew colleagues take responsibility; they know what is expected of them and are\nable to contribute in the desired manner and it affects everything from stress\nlevels and creativity to efficiency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It also helps to define how attractive you\nare as an employer \u2013 something that in the consultancy sector is completely\ncrucial to whether growth is even an option. A strong corporate culture gives\nyou a strong competitive edge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 4 x bigger \u2013 Leadership:<\/strong>\nEven in terms of leadership, it is possible to think in terms of four times\nbigger than you are today. That your current leaders have their own ideas about\nleadership is great, but how is this transmitted to everyone else? Leadership\naffects many people in a growing business, even in flat organisations in which\neveryone is required to lead. Greater demands are continuously placed on\nonboarding, monitoring and development. Timely investment in leadership has\npositive short and long-term consequences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 4 x bigger \u2013 Capacity:<\/strong>\nEarly in your company\u2019s journey it may work perfectly well to keep track of\nyour capacity with simple means; however, how do you administer a structure\ndesigned to cope with multiple consultants working on both long and short-term\nassignments? This demands entirely different processes if it is to be managed\neffectively. It also has an enormous impact on your bottom line.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In a consultancy sector where a lack of assignments\nis often not the problem, it is even more important to have structures in place\nin good time that can streamline administration, cut unnecessary overheads and\nincrease margins.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 4 x bigger \u2013 Monitoring:<\/strong>\nIn a company with only a few employees, everyone is aware of most ongoing\nprojects and which may be more or less profitable. When the size of the\nbusiness grows and data is less readily available, it becomes considerably more\ndifficult to know exactly how things are going.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Structured monitoring helps you to see\nboth how it is going for the company and why. This is a prerequisite both for\nbecoming 4 x bigger and for mapping out your journey there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 4 x bigger \u2013 Commission:<\/strong>\nConsultancies in general have more or less complicated commission models and\nare often under the impression that the particular model they have chosen is\nstandard, but with a twist. In the long term, such models can greatly increase\nadministration costs and hinder automation. Here, it is better to keep it\nsimple by implementing simple, transparent models. If you start out needing\nmanual administration to calculate commission, you can count on this becoming\nincreasingly difficult over time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In principle, you can apply the 4 x\nperspective to anything. Take whatever problems you are wrestling with right\nnow and place them in a 4 x perspective. See what happens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Now that we live in a world with quality\ndigital services that to a greater or lesser extent automate various processes,\nit is important that you keep abreast of technical developments \u2013 even in those\nfields that may seem boring, such as bookkeeping and auditing.<\/p>\n\n\n\nAutomate to avoid your problems growing\nexponentially<\/strong><\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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