You’ve cut, squeezed, reduced, and renegotiated at every cost-level of your organization. Now comes the time to focus on a growth strategy. Despite your new product and service plans, expected targets, and an active sales effort, growth just isn’t happening.

Why is growth so elusive? Several barriers are pervasive in many organizations. Once management recognizes that cutting costs only achieves perceived growth, it should then work to identify and address some common internal obstacles. Any or all of these could likely stunt your organization’s growth. 

The intimidation factor

Pursuing a growth strategy is a highly challenging mission. It requires getting out of comfort zones and into uncharted territory like new ideas, innovative products, or unique services.

On the other hand, cutting expenses is a much more straightforward task and has become a responsibility that many organizations are well accustomed to performing. Therefore, when faced with the complexity of growth planning, companies may merely fall into cost-cutting complacency. Others simply hope that the economy turns around and that business picks up. Or they wait to possibly gain market share from competitors who may also be struggling.

No one has ever hoped or cost-cut their organization into growth. Instead, growth is an active undertaking that demands a full-on commitment, and planning should be persistent and ongoing. When growth planning becomes a routine element in your overall business strategy, it becomes far less intimidating, and allows everyone in your organization to be comfortable with growth objectives. That includes the front line in the pursuit of growth, your sales force.

The responsibility of selling new products or services can be daunting, particularly when information on features, benefits, and value is either insufficient or pioneering. Salespeople may frequently rely on their familiar and customary approaches, preferring to sell their companies’ proven products or services rather than risk success on the new. Aligning the sales team with your growth goals, and adequately equipping them with both product knowledge and goal understanding is crucial to clearing the way to growth.

Unrealistic numbers, improbable goals

Too often, growth targets are simply based on some vague and over-ambitious numbers or pie-in-the-sky goals, and may not represent realistic aspirations. What’s more, because many individuals don’t trust the goal-setting process, they don’t believe that management actually expects the numbers to be achievable. Unrealistic goals never produce actual growth.

Instead, organizations must work to set realistic goals and make them part of an overall, well-conceived plan. How goals will be achieved must be clearly communicated, and early buy-in from all levels of the organization must be obtained.

It’s also important to realize that the growth curve need not be dramatic. Small, incremental accomplishments have the power to change and shape your organization’s future.

Drivers wanted

Who’s in charge of growth? In many organizations, it’s unclear where exactly the overall responsibility lies, or it becomes some manager’s some-time duty to try and implement a growth strategy.

While the CEO is ultimately responsible for growth, the time and talent needed to connect strategy to operations and “own” the mission may necessitate the assignment or hiring of an appointed growth manager. Your growth manager should work to tenaciously recognize opportunities, evaluate and initiate recommendations, and manage any growth venture until it’s fully developed and begins to demonstrate results. With someone clearly in the driver’s seat, growth can become a constant component of your organization’s ongoing agenda.

Contributions to growth can also become part of your company’s performance-review process, thereby reinforcing its importance in the responsibilities of many individuals at key levels.

Eliminating obstacles

Recognizing what’s in your way and removing internal hurdles will clear the course to action—action that can include product innovation, distinguished and differentiating customer services, or operational excellence—all designed to attain long and lasting growth.