the listening business
companies go through cycles of growth where they have to be different things to what they were yesterday, last week, last month.
our company just made this transition: we moved from being a fledgling start-up with a nice idea, into a start-up with very real overheads and clients. things got serious. sort of like the first day of big school.
you’re still small but you’re big.
our story is no longer what makes people take us seriously. we now need to prove metrics and milestones.
i’m all up for the challenge. we’re proving metrics, and milestones are racing past with big check marks. i’m loving the seriousness of this phase in comparison to the “bubbles” of the previous phase. i’m dressed in my brand new uniform and totally ready for year 1 of big school.
we hired a revenue optimiser to signal this new phase to the team. you wouldn’t think these people exist but they do: they come in the form of people who have built and exited companies. they know how to make sales and operations and clients work together in magic ways, that fill bank accounts up. they generally have more grey hairs than i do. the one we hired feels a little like a principal. in the best possible way.
he calls me up this morning and says:
“so i have this list of three things i want to discuss with you:
1. i’m going to spend this week listening to the team
2. i’m going to sit and listen to you explain the product to me
3. i’m going to listen to your clients
i will then tell you where i am going to start tweaking systems.”
listening; that’s the differentiator in this phase. listening is the key ingredient that differentiates an infant business and a business that’s ready to grow up.
listening seems like an easy thing to do but it’s perhaps the hardest thing a business needs to learn how to do.
listening is hard for a variety of reasons:
• the voices the business need to listen to are plentiful (think investors, funders, banks, clients in different businesses and different locations)
• the voices are opinionated
• the voices require prioritisation
• some voices need discarding
• some voices are filled with false assumptions that need to be corrected with speed
• some false assumptions are useful to inspect because they show where the market is naturally leaning
• listening feels like slowing down
• it is sometimes hard to change direction when you’ve forged into a specific direction as an infant company
• some things you hear can blindside you
• listening as a team and moving as a business is a lot harder than listening as one person
• listening can cause paralysis
• listening can cause overwhelm
• listening can prevent action
• listening can drive the wrong action
how do i build a listening organisation that listens to the correct information?
how do i build a listening team that acts on what it learns?
i do not know. but i know i need to figure it out. this is my most important job as the CEO right now in this phase.
my homework has been set. i better get to it.
i’ll be back to share what i learn in this new phase.
if you have experience in this area, talk to me. i want to hear from you.
