My poor plant!
As you can see in the After shot above, it’s clearly dying. After four years of care, despite my best efforts, I couldn’t rescue it.
But then something happened…
Letting Go to Grow
I began pruning my plant – removing dead leaves and branches. About two weeks later, I noticed new growth in the form of tiny green sprouts bursting through the bark of one of the surviving trunks.
By removing and letting go of my plant’s lifeless parts, it made room for new growth to occur. The dead leaves were literally robbing the good parts of the plant of essential nutrients.
The same is true in our companies. There may be certain people, places and/or things that no longer serve our business that we need to remove. Clenard discovered this power of letting go as he prepared to take his company public.
Stunting Your Growth
Clenard Smith II is a proud military veteran and the owner-operator of a wildly successful food distribution company. His company projects a “well-oiled machine” image and the contracts are pouring in. He wants to up the ante by taking his food distribution company public, but feels he lacks the physical space to accommodate the growth that would come as a result. He prides himself on having a strategy for conquering whatever he sets out to achieve and has no problem following rules, especially if they benefit him in the long term.
However, there actually is enough space. The problem is that, as a widower, Clenard’s emotional trauma has manifested in a large cluttered room and has, without him consciously knowing it, caused chaos across the entire second floor of his company’s building. His refusal to address this comes as a shock to both his family and his staff. It threatens to stunt anticipated growth and undermine everything he’s worked so hard to achieve. One employee, seeing the self-destruction that is ensuing, arranges for a consultant to help.
Clenard’s full story is told in Chapter 7 (Veni, Vidi, Vici) of my book. You can learn exactly how the hired consultant uses business infrastructure as a means to support him in letting go to win his latest battle. In fact, my book, Behind the Façade: How to Structure Company Operations for Sustainable Success, is the world’s first book ever written on the subject of business infrastructure exclusively for small businesses.
Letting Go is Part of the Journey
Letting go isn’t easy. Over the past two years, I’ve been challenged to rethink my entire business model and have made significant changes as a result. Was it easy? Heck no! But it has afforded me new opportunities and relationships that would not have happened otherwise.
In fact, as you continue leading your company through its various growth stages, you will find that letting go is part of the process. In the video below I share 5 books that I highly recommend you read to make sure your operations grow in tandem with your company’s growth:
When we hold on to things that no longer serve our business’ best interests, it can stunt growth. And, like a plant that needs to be transplanted into a larger pot, our businesses can become root-bound. Maybe your business needs some pruning to allow for new growth.
If there’s dated software or equipment you need to replace, replace it! If you need to clean out files or your office altogether, do it! If there are people on your team who are no longer in alignment with your new strategy, do yourself and them a favor – let them go!
Is there something you need to let go of in your business in order to scale to the next level? What’s holding you back? Sometimes talking to a neutral, third-party can give you the clarification you need to bravely let go. Contact me so we can come up with a plan of action.
As the old saying goes, “When one door closes, another opens.”
