Growing Pains

In their book, Growing Pains Yvonne Randle and Eric G. Flamholtz say that a firm which has not developed internal systems needed at a given stage of growth will begin to experience growing pains. They say that the 10 most common symptoms include:

1. People feel that there are “not enough hours in the day”

2. People spend too much time “putting out fires”

3. People are unaware of what others are doing

4. People do not understand where the firm is headed

5. There are too few good managers

6. People feel that “I have to do it myself if I want it done right”

7. Most people feel that meetings are a waste of time

8. When plans are made, there is very little follow-up, so things just don’t get done

9. Some people feel insecure about their place in the firm

10. The firm continues to grow in sales but not in profits

Does this sound like your place? What would the employees say? By assessing how strongly your organization identifies with each of these “growing pains” we can see how much “pain” your group is in. This combined with an assessment of how the organization performs in each of 5 key areas can help you start to relieve the pain and become more successful.

Below is the Pyramid of Organizational Development. Each of these building blocks corresponds to the emphasis required for companies as they grow. The table defines the stages of organizational growth and critical development areas.