As the process / optimization / efficiency guy to many people, I am often asked, show we focus on growth or efficiency.

I think this is something best made as a conscious decision. If it isn’t a conscious decision, it will be made anyway as not making a decision is making a decision.

Inherently there has to be a trade off between the two.When you’re trying to grow we are going to make decisions and expenses thatWon’t work out, But that’s important to finding things and pieces that do workout. It’s impossibleIn my experience for someoneTo grow as well as be more efficient at the same time.What I seen most often is an ability for a company to grow or try something small, then focusing on the efficiency and improving that test before growing again.

How Often?

No less than once a quarter, it’s important to make the decision, are we going to focus on sales and growth, or are we going to focus on efficiency? A lot of this depends on the organization and how fast it’s growing. This growth could be employees, revenue, business lines or anything disruptive to the status quo. Some companies might be moving fast enough that this is a week to week shift of focus.

No matter how often, the key is insuring everyone on the team, and maybe some off the team, knows what the focus is of that time period.

Takeaway Questions:

What are you focusing on?

Have you decided your priority for this period?