The UK is predicted to enjoy its fastest growth for more than 70 years, but managing growth presents its own challenges. How should you approach growing a business?
Mark Finlay, chief commercial officer, digital communications service Moneypenny听
鈥淗ave absolute focus on your strategy and don鈥檛 divert from that. It鈥檚 easy to chase growth and you can be guilty of trying to do too much.鈥�
Anna Beaumont, co-CEO and founder, law firm Bexley Beaumont听
鈥淭here are three tips for growth: 1.听 Clarity of purpose; 2. Surround yourself with people who are better than you; 3. Recruit ahead of the curve. In addition I鈥檓 a great believer in the support and challenge of non-executive directors and also personal coaching.鈥�
Asif Hamid, CEO, The Contact Company; chairman, Liverpool City Region LEP听
鈥淵ou鈥檝e got to know what success is and it might not be just growth. When you bring in a management team you鈥檝e got to make sure they share the same vision and mission. Stick with what you know. Don鈥檛 divert too much from your core competencies because you鈥檒l take your eye off your business.鈥�听
Mark Arnold, managing director, Envair Technology, maker of specialist containment isolators for pharma industry听
鈥淚t鈥檚 all about the people. If you鈥檝e got the right people, you can do so much more. 老九品茶 issues are more often than not people issues.鈥�听
Hannah Feldman, co-founder, family activities platform Kidadl听
鈥淐hase success rather than money from your customers. When we pivoted mid-pandemic we focused solely on what our customers needed from us at a critical time in their lives, and this strategy has really delivered and set us on a path to become the go-to platform for family edutainment globally.鈥�听
David Foreman, managing director, Praetura Ventures听
鈥淕rowth is a journey and it鈥檚 important to acknowledge that every single founder or leader is learning all the time. No-one has all the answers but it鈥檚 easy to convince yourself that everyone else knows exactly what they are doing. It would help if people were more prepared to talk about the failures as well as the wins.听 And social media is awful for creating a false image of constant success.鈥�听
Glenn Cooper, chairman, Inovus Medical听
鈥淗ow do you achieve growth? Get the right people around you. The three things I look for in these people is attitude, focus and commitment. If you鈥檝e got people with those three elements you can do anything. Forget all the qualifications.鈥�听
Nick Rhind, CEO, agency CTI Group听
鈥淲e鈥檝e always embraced change and evolved as a business. We鈥檝e always grown. We have a joined up vision. I probably turn down three quarters of the approaches I get from businesses.鈥�听
Andy Nicol, managing director, digital transformation agency Sputnik Digital听
鈥淔ocus on successful delivery and the money will come. Grow at the pace you鈥檙e comfortable growing at.鈥�听
Marc Schmid, founder, Redmoor Health听
鈥淲hen you work in a large local government team you鈥檙e insulated if you get the wrong person but when you run your own business it鈥檚 on you and it鈥檚 more personal if it doesn鈥檛 work out. I spend a lot of my time trying to identify the right people.鈥�听
Liam Ward, programme lead, Tech Nation鈥檚 Upscale Programme听
鈥淥ne thing we see across our programmes when people take on VC funding is the potential for growing too quickly in too many directions. We see some companies that are growing at a great rate, who take on additional funding, and the pressure to grow for another 24 months at an even faster rate can take the business in the wrong direction. You almost come apart at the seams! Making sure you鈥檙e scaling correctly is as important as hitting some of those growth metrics – teams need a North Star to work towards and clarity of purpose from the leadership team.鈥�听
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