Silent growth killers are hard-to-detect pitfalls that drain momentum and energy, stop growth and sometimes put a firm out of business. The impact of the growth killers is unique to midsized companies. Small, venture-funded companies don’t typically suffer from them, and while they do strike big companies, they typically have the financial and managerial strength to survive them.

Illustrating the seven silent growth killers through real examples, Robert explains how CEOs and other leaders can protect their companies from them or avoid them altogether.

What you will learn:

• Why the seven silent growth killers are much bigger risks for midsized companies
• How to identify the growth killers early
• Ways to survive them with tried-and-true methods
• How to steer clear of the killers altogether

These practices – the people drivers – are the often-underdeveloped systems that the best-managed midsized companies use to recruit and retain top talent, to develop future leaders, and to create high-performing leadership teams that enjoy working together to grow the business.

Small businesses (generally under $10M in revenues) usually don’t need or can’t afford to power up systems in each people driver. But by the time a company reaches midsized, the people practices it used as a small business are neither adequate nor appropriate, certainly not as a platform for growth.

By adopting a few key people practices, midsized companies can attract the talent they need in sufficient quantities to grow their businesses. They can keep them happy. They can even lure people away from much larger companies or appealing startups precisely because they’re midsized. And teams of leaders outperform a single leader in tackling problems and hauling in opportunities.

Attendees will receive a copy of Robert Sher’s newest book, Driving Midsized Growth: People.

You will learn:

• Recruiting: Key processes and activities to find and hire talent with better success.
• Developing Talent: A simple approach with short- and long-term payback to develop your high-potential employees needed for your high-impact positions.
• Leading with Teams: How to shift from hub and spokes small-business style of leadership to coordinated, empowered teams of leaders.

Consistently recruiting enough high-quality talent at all levels fuels growth. But many midsized companies struggle with recruiting and settle for people who are nothing more than a good fit. But “a good fit” is not the same as “a great fit.” Midsized companies with an abundance of creative, talented people at the top of their class grow markedly faster than their competition.

In this presentation, we’ll discuss why it’s important to take a systematic approach to finding and signing the best and brightest for your company and key practices that midsized companies can adopt to recruit top talent.

You will learn:

• Ideas and approaches midsized companies can use to hire top people.
• Recruiting strategies that help midsized companies compete with smaller outfits and, especially, bigger ones.

• Ideas and approaches midsized companies can use to hire top people.
• Recruiting strategies that help midsized companies compete with smaller outfits and, especially, bigger ones.
• What a recruiting short game is and how to manage it.
• Short-term tactics to use when your hiring needs are urgent.
• Key long-term strategies that yield a perpetual list of candidates.

They devote a great deal of time and money to professional development to cultivate those employees. High potentials are people who are ready, willing, and able to take on more duties. They’re eager to do what it takes to move up in the organization.

Companies typically don’t begin to get their arms around skills development until their revenue is close to $200 million. Leaders of companies smaller than that generally feel they’re too busy to make professional development a priority.

The result is employees who are stuck. Their skills get stale, and pretty soon they don’t have what it takes to continue working in their growing, increasingly complex organization.

Systematically helping high-potential employees earn promotions and increase their responsibilities fuels growth. It’s also relatively less expensive and less risky than hiring from the outside.

In this presentation, we’ll explore the tactics midsized companies employ to develop high-potential employees. 

You will learn:

• How to know where to concentrate professional development.
• How to create a career path that benefits both individuals and the business as a whole.
• The role of strategic delegation in developing high-potentials.
• When to use internal training vs. external training.

To thrive, owners or CEOs of midsized companies must adopt a team-leadership model, where they collaborate with a cohesive group of top department leaders and delegate responsibilities to them. That frees up the CEO to think about the future (and powerfully motivates the other, empowered leaders), which is vital for an organization’s long-term growth.

Successful CEOs understand the importance of developing collaborative relationships with their teams and understand that that’s what drives growth and success. By cultivating a collaborative culture, they become servant leaders, alert to the needs of both their people and their organizations. By adopting a servant leader mentality, a CEO can help people learn, which is essential for business growth.

Excellent teamwork is a hallmark of successful midsized companies where teams at every level work together productively, cohesively and happily.

In this presentation, we’ll explore how organizations can overcome just about any obstacle by moving to a team-based leadership model.

You will learn:

• What it takes to make the transition to team-based leadership.
• How strong team leaders can make or break the process.
• The prime focus for the top leader in a team-based model.
• The importance of strategic delegation when leading with teams.