Growing Your Organization

Written by Carter McNamara, MBA, PhD, Authenticity Consulting, LLC. Copyright 1997-2008.

Whether your organization is a for-profit or nonprofit, you have to address certain considerations and make certain decisions if you set out to intentionally grow your business. For many, focused efforts to intentionally grow an organization is not unlike starting the organization in the first place. This topic in the library references the major areas of considerations and decisions that must be made.

You can grow your business just by managing it well, for example, having very good products and services that are sold with strong customer service, etc. This topic in the library is for those who establish an intentional goal that includes priority on growing the organization.

Sections of This Topic Include:

Understanding Life Cycles of Organizations
Deciding Whether to Grow the Organization or Not
Evaluating Your Organization -- How Well Is It Doing?
Growing Your Business -- Are You Personally Ready?
Typical Challenges in Growing
General Advice to Grow Your Organization
Getting Professional Help
Financing Growth
Planned Growth: Business Planning
Planned Growth: Organizational Change
Ways to Grow: Product and Market Development
Ways to Grow: Organizational Alliances
Ways to Grow: Buying a Franchise
Ways to Grow: Buying a Business
You May Need to Increase Staff

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Understanding Life Cycles of Organizations

Organizations go through certain life cycles just like other systems, including people, plants and animals. It helps organizational leaders if they understand the nature of each of these cycles and the challenges in moving from one cycle to another. When reading the following articles, think about what life cycle your organization is in.

Entrepreneurial Passages: Making the Growth Transition (org's have growth stages)
Basic Overview of Life Cycles of Organizations
Founder's Syndrome -- How Organizations Suffer -- and Can Recover

Deciding Whether to Grow the Organization or Not

There are certain considerations about your organization that must be made when deciding whether to grow your organization or not -- you don't have to grow it if you don't want to).

To Grow or Not to Grow

Evaluating Your Organization -- How Well Is It Doing?

Before you start major activities to grow your organization, you should first get a realistic impression of how your organization is doing now. There are a variety of tools that you can use to get a quick impression.

Organizational Assessments (For-Profit)
Organizational Assessments (Nonprofit)

Growing Your Organization -- Are You Personally Ready?

There are certain considerations about yourself that also must be made when deciding whether to grow your organization or not -- again, you don't have to grow it if you don't want to).

Taking Risks: Your Attitude Toward Business Growth
Expanding Your Risk Comfort Zone

Typical Challenges in Growing

Organizations often face the same types of challenges when growing. Organizational leaders often face the same types of challenges, as well.

Founder's Syndrome (founders sometimes struggle to change themselves)
Getting Over Growing Pains

General Advice to Grow Your Organization

Growing Your Business Slowly
3 Ways to Grow Your Business
Altneratives to Hiring Employess

Getting Professional Help

You may need to raise funds to finance your growth (we'll address more on this consideration a little later). An organization development expert can be very helpful. Organizations often face the same types of challenges when growing. Organizational leaders often face the same types of challenges, as well.

Consider hiring an Organization Development professional, by posing your need in the free onlie forum, ODNET
Hire a Fundraiser (for nonprofits)

Seriously consider getting an accountant who is experienced in matters around growing businesses.
Getting an Accountant

If you hire a consultant, the following link may be useful.
Getting a Consultant

Lastly, you might need a lawyer, for example, to review contracts.
Getting a Lawyer

Financing Growth

It's very likely that you'll need some form of capital to finance the growth. The following links will be helpful.
Financing and Managing Growth
Financial Management for the Growing Business
Fundraising in For-Profits
Fundraising in Nonprofits

Planned Growth: Business Planning

One of the best ways to carefully think through how you want to grow your organization is through the use of business planning.

Business Planning
Room to Grow

Planned Growth: Organizational Change

Organizations are changing today like never before. Over the last ten years or so, there has been a dramatic increase in the amount of literature about organizational change. You can benefit from the many resources reachable from the following link.

Organizational Change

Ways to Grow: Product and Market Development

Quite often, the best way to grow an organization is to grow your markets. For example, organizations can generate revenue from selling more of the current products to more of the current customers (customer maximization), more of the current products to new customers (customer development), new products to current customers (product development), or new products to new customers (diversification).

Product and Service Development
All About Marketing

Ways to Grow: Organizational Alliances

Another way to grow your organization is to merge with another organization or form a joint venture.
Organizational Alliances

Ways to Grow: Buying a Franchise

In some cases, you may be better off to buy a franchise, that is, a business strategy and structure that has been proven to work in other markets and your challenge is to set up your franchise in your locale.

Buying and Financing a Franchise

Ways to Grow: Buying Another Organization

You can also grow your organization by buying another organization, or one or more of its product lines.

Buying a Business

You May Need to Increase Staff

The following link is to a collection of well-organized articles in regard to staffing planning, recruiting, screening applicants, hiring applicants, training them and managing their performance.

Staffing

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For the Category of Organizational Development:

Related Library Topics

Recommended Books

Managing Organizational Change

Growing Your Organization

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Managing Organizational Change

The following books are recommended because of their highly practical nature and often because they include a wide range of information about this Library topic. To get more information about each book, just hover your cursor over the image of the book. A "bubble" of information will be displayed. You can click on the title of the book in that bubble to get more information, too.

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Growing Your Organization

The following books are recommended because of their highly practical nature and often because they include a wide range of information about this Library topic. To get more information about each book, just hover your cursor over the image of the book. A "bubble" of information will be displayed. You can click on the title of the book in that bubble to get more information, too.

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Also See

Capacity Building (Nonprofit) -- Recommended Books

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