A time and place for all roles.
In the July 21st Newsletter we started the discussion around "Who Are You In Your Business?" and "Are You Using Your Super Powers In Your Business". Catch up here!
Topics
Review of the PAEI Leadership Roles
Overview of Corporate Life Cycle
How PAEI Interacts With the Life Cycle
1. Review of PAEI Leadership Roles
Producer
Gets things done - Tends to be nose down and unconcerned with things beyond the tasks or the activity of accomplishing a task.
Administrator
Keeps things in line - Best at making decisions in times of "normality". Sticking to the "right way & right time" can lead to missed opportunities.
Integrator
Relationships and communication - Great at maintaining connections, but fails to make critical decisions.
Entrepreneur
The Spark - Full of enthusiasm, but can lack in their attention to building a supporting foundation for new ides.
2. Overview of the Business Life Cycle
As with any other entity, a business has a life cycle. As defined by Ichak Adizes, there are 4 primary stages over the lifetime of an organization: Growth, Stabilization, Crisis, and Extinction. There are also 10 phases, recognizing where your business currently sits can help you mitigate potential fail points, and recognize what strategies are needed to maintain growth and stability.
Growth
Courtship | Infancy | Go-Go | Adolescence
Heavily based on energy and innovation to overcome the profit threshold and gain real profit.
Driving positive force: Large amounts of sweat equity and enthusiasm
Potential Failings: Unfocused energy, lack of sufficient revenue, reluctance to learn and implement systems, New car smell is gone
Stabilization
Prime | The Fall
Stability is a result of systems and efficient operations.
Driving positive force: Management and delegation are the driving forces
Potential Failings: No vision for the next steps, Slow reactions to change or making necessary improvements.
Crisis
Aristocracy | Recrimination (Blame game)
Although it sounds scary, it is very possible to revitalize a business in crisis through creativity and willingness to get dirty.
Driving positive force: Excellent coordination and cooperation along with a healthy dose of elbow grease.
Potential Failings: Ostrich syndrome, Decisions made for the benefit for the top of the company vs meeting the original purpose of the organization, Band-aids.
Extinction
Bureaucracy | Death
A business heavily in decline; usually due to a lack of effective internal messaging, poor productivity, failed communications, and low energy.
Driving positive force: Systemic rebuild
Potential Failings: Total breakdown of systems, no fresh ideas or energy.
3. How PAEI Leadership Interacts With the Life Cycle
Uppercase letters = Dominant role
Lowercase letters = Minimized influence
Let's look between the phases at the leadership roles and behaviors that guide the trajectory of the life cycle.
Courtship to Infancy
It's all fresh and new, it doesn't matter "how" it gets done...just as long as it is accomplished and money is made. Very few systems and communication is easy.
Infancy to Go-Go
Primary focus on producing enough products/services to break through the revenue expenditure line.
Go-Go to Adolescence
Recognition of the need to stabilize the foundation by implementing systems and exploring growth opportunities.
Adolescence to Prime
Systems and new ideas are being developed and implemented at scale.
Prime to The Fall A symbiosis of Producers fulfilling their duties, Administrators implementing effective systems, and the Entrepreneur infusing energy and new ideas.
The Fall to Aristocracy
All that matters is checking the boxes and shipping out the product/service. Paradise for Administrators and Producers, but fails to "Jump the Curve". (Where a business sees the upcoming downside of their current operations and revises the company to renew or build upon past success.)
Aristocracy to Recrimination
Administrators and Integrators gone amok, voices for efficiency, efficacy, and brand new ideas are minimized.
Recrimination to Bureaucracy
Producers and Administrators without the spark of the Entrepreneur. Communications not effectively facilitated by Integrators.
Bureaucracy to Death
Administrators with little to no support from other roles.
Going through the motions, you've seen many businesses where the company has obviously failed but they maintain operations to hit a date of dissolution. Balancing the 4 roles of leadership in a business is one way to approach board members, hiring, partnership, and strategy. Read some extra details from Ichak here!
Thanks for reading!
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