In my Mountain Leader training with the Royal Marine Commandos, I learned what a ‘secret handhold’ is. It’s a hard-to-find grip that suddenly makes climbing a tricky rock a lot easier. Over the years, as a scale-up consultant, I have developed all kinds of ‘secret handholds’ that are essential for the successful scaling up of companies. These are not secrets in the traditional sense, but rather strategic focal points that are often overlooked.
One of them is the importance of building a strong corporate culture that encourages innovation and risk-taking. Another is to constantly measure and analyze performance to understand what is working and what is not, and respond to those analyses. In addition, it is essential to always remain customer-oriented, no matter how big your business becomes. Fourth, Be prepared to adapt your business model to changing market conditions.
These and other insights act as handles while scaling up; they provide guidance and direction, and help to simplify the climb to success.