You’re caught up in the Business Storm Cycle – and though you may not have heard its name, you’re certainly aware of its impact.

Maybe you’re caught up in the Tornado, that hypergrowth phase where sales are exploding and you’re running as fast as you can to keep up. Or perhaps you’re stuck in the Avalanche, watching your margins shrink as your growth declines. Or you might be in the doldrums of the consolidation phase, picking up the pieces and trying to figure out what to fix first – and wondering if you’ll survive.

Remember:

  • Each of these phases presents unique challenges and opportunities. Once you understand what these are, you can navigate their dangers, and use them to your advantage as a way to retool and rebalance your business for the future.
  • In every phase, you’ll need to be nimble, and ready to rebalance the three legs of triangle – your people, processes, and IT – to get the most from the phase you’re in, and to minimize damage.
  • Understanding the cycle you’re in means that you can look ahead to what’s coming next, and prepare for it.
  • You can learn to accelerate your journey through the storm and return to predictable operations more quickly.
  • Beware of the “magic bullet” approach to shoring up your triangle. It will likely make more problems than it solves.
  • It’s called a cycle because it keeps moving – so the good news is that whatever phase you’re currently in, you’re going to move through it into another – presuming you can hold your enterprise together.

You can’t pay attention to your people and process and ignore your technology—and by the same token, you can’t focus on technology without bringing your people and process along with you. Doing so thoughtfully will insure that all three of these critical and inextricably linked elements of your business triangle will work harmoniously and efficiently – and keep your enterprise from going under, in the chaos of the Business Storm Cycle.

Can your company survive the tornados and avalanches of the business cycle? Take my complimentary Business Storm Cycle Assessment to empower your people to work better, faster, and smarter.