Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Today’s episode shares the 12 steps in the Growability model and how business leaders can grow in community.

This episode covers:

• An overview of the 12 Step Growability model

Podcast Transcript

Joshua MacLeod:
It’s not what I know that produces fruit, it’s where I sew. So I can talk about producing corn all day long, but until I plant the kernel of corn, I’m not going to get any corn out of the ground.

Podcast Announcer:
Welcome to the Growability podcast, your home for leadership management and marketing education, where we teach business and nonprofit leaders the necessary habits to make your organization thrive. Today’s episode shares the 12 steps in the Growability model and how business leaders can grow in community. Here are your hosts, Joshua MacLeod, and Bernie Anderson.

Bernie Anderson:
Joshua, as I think about the Growability model, I think about this has been a long process.

Joshua MacLeod:
Yeah.

Bernie Anderson:
Growability didn’t just appear one night in a dream, you know?

Joshua MacLeod:
Yeah.

Bernie Anderson:
I know for a fact that the process of developing this model has been, I mean, it’s a good part of your life’s work. And helping others to implement this model is now becoming others of ours life work, you know?

Joshua MacLeod:
Yeah.

Bernie Anderson:
So this is important. One of the questions I have is what makes Growability different from other business models?

Joshua MacLeod:
It’s a great question. We have the luxury at Growability of using the analogy of growing a tree to explain how you should grow a business. Growing a tree is actually a pretty good analogy for growing an organization because everything in a business is interconnected. One of the key differentiators of Growability is that all of our training recognizes the necessary synergy between leadership, management and marketing. It’s very organic in design. The second we emphasize teams in order to accomplish the right thing to do requires teamwork.

Joshua MacLeod:
It requires leadership and management and teams working and getting on the same page so that the goals aspirations of the organization can be accomplished in community. I mean, that’s why we put so much emphasis on the team dynamics, strength dynamics, personality dynamics. We really emphasize habits. It’s not what I know that produces fruit, it’s where I sow. So I can talk about producing corn all day long, but until I plant the kernel of corn, I’m not going to get any corn out of the ground.

Joshua MacLeod:
Are you doing the habits necessary to make your organization thrive? So I think those are three huge differentiators. We recognize the organic nature of a business. We focus and emphasize teams working together. And then we focus and emphasize sustainable habits that are going to create maximum growth.

Bernie Anderson:
Yeah. No, that’s good. It’s funny because a lot of consultants set themselves up as the person, the go-to person. You need me and you need me forever, right?

Joshua MacLeod:
Yeah.

Bernie Anderson:
You need me for the rest. I’m on retainer. And actually I don’t want you to need me forever. Organizations can come in. They can learn how to grow organically, how to develop their team, how to develop the habits that need to sustain what they do for the next 20 years.

Joshua MacLeod:
Yes. We want your team to grow, we want you to grow. We want to grow right there along with you. But our long haul is, as long as it takes to get you up to speed, to be able to do this by yourself.

Bernie Anderson:
Well, I think everybody who’s been listening this far along are, “Well, what are the 12 steps? What are they?” What are the 12 fundamentals? What are the 12 steps? And why are each one of those things important?

Joshua MacLeod:
When we teach the Growability model, we walk through the analogy of growing a tree. The first thing you need, if you’re going to grow a tree is you need a seed. Now, when you think about an acorn, acorns or are the most amazing technology on the planet. I take this little thing that I can fit in my hand, and it has the potential to produce a tree that’s 80 feet tall, that’s 80 feet wide, that can live a couple hundred years and produce 15 million new acorns.

Joshua MacLeod:
All of those acorns that come out of that tree look very much like that acorn that I planted in the ground. And so the first step in Growability would look at the vision, mission, values of the organization. What is your DNA? Now the second step in the Growability model is to understand your soil. If you want to plant a tree, you’ve got to have some soil. The soil in any organization is your customer. Who’s buying what you’re selling. And that’s true if you’re a for-profit or a nonprofit. A lot of nonprofit leaders don’t like that word customer. Okay, you need a stakeholder or a shareholder or a partner or a donor or whatever…

Bernie Anderson:
That’s right.

Joshua MacLeod:
The third thing it’s crucial for every organization to understand what season you are in. In a business world, you have startup and growth and maturity and renewal. So in the same way that in our natural world, we have spring and summer and fall and winter. Understanding what to do during each season is really important to prepare yourself for the next season.

Joshua MacLeod:
The fourth fundamental in our 12 step Growability model is water. So going back to the analogy, I’ve got my seed, this is my vision. I’ve got my soil, that’s my customer. I’ve got my season. I’m planting at the right time. If I don’t have water, this thing’s never going to grow. So water is like the team, the most important ingredient in any organization, which is water, which is your team.

Joshua MacLeod:
The fifth is about leadership. So the fifth fundamental or the fifth step in the Growability model is what we call tap root. How do you break out of your shell and dig deep? Setting goals is what we put in the tap root step. The sixth step is your trunk. Now your trunk adds structure to the organization. The trunk is your budget. This is the way that you handle money, finances. The structure for your organization that you can build branches off of is your trunk.

Joshua MacLeod:
So that’s the sixth fundamental. The seventh is the roots. How does your organization build community? It’s not the branches that hold a tree up in a storm, it’s the roots. So do you have a good community of people that surround your business and help it thrive? And then how are you feeding that community? How are you sewing into your root system for your organization so that your root system can sew into your growth? Okay. Step eight, step eight is your gardener. The way that I multiply growth in an organization is I prune it.

Joshua MacLeod:
I got to cut branches that are ineffective. Who’s your gardener? Who is helping you prune your organization? The ninth step is to streamline your systems. Your systems are branches. So what are we doing to build our systems? And then the 10th is how you manage your time. So leaves are how trees convert sunlight into energy. Time is how you convert priority into effectiveness. How do you maximize your time at an organization? The 11th is measurement. This is looking at the fruit. You don’t achieve what you don’t measure.

Joshua MacLeod:
You don’t improve what you don’t measure. Measurement is a fundamental ingredient for building any organization. And then finally you have multiplication, and this is marketing. How do you take that product of who you are and bring it out into the market and so on and so forth?

Joshua MacLeod:
So those are the 12 fundamental steps of the Growability model. They’re not for the gimick of heart. And they’re not for the get rich quick of heart. They are fundamental for the wise and heart. They are fundamentally for the team in heart. They’re fundamentally for people who want to do the things that have a 20 year lifespan, not just a 90 day gimmick span.

Bernie Anderson:
That’s right.

Joshua MacLeod:
This is not the shortcut. This is the long cut. We don’t even train this in a day seminar because I would be lying to you to say, you’re going to learn everything you need to know to run your business in my one day seminar. That’s just not true. But if you join a community of entrepreneurs and you meet together with them regularly for a year, you’re going to learn everything you need to know to thrive and survive and grow an organization that makes a deep impact in your community and around the world.

Bernie Anderson:
So you’ve gone through this entire model, Joshua, how do people learn to take this and make it real in their business, in their organization or their nonprofit?

Joshua MacLeod:
One of the reasons why we’re doing this podcast is so that I can write the Growability book so that for 20 bucks on Amazon or whatever, you can get a copy of, hey, here’s the fundamentals of each of these 12 steps that we just talked about. Until that book is written, I think the best low cost or free options are this podcast. If you listen to this podcast, you’re learning a lot of the tools and the philosophy and the strategy behind what it looks like to be a Growability business. However, there is no substitute for learning in community.

Joshua MacLeod:
I think the very best way to experience Growability is with a group of other entrepreneurs where you meet with them, either on Zoom or in person, and you meet twice a month for two hours, and then you learn the fundamentals that are necessary to grow your organization. So we call that the Growability collaborative. This is where you collaborate with other leaders. It’s group-based education. And then ultimately, if you can afford, or you have the resources to bring in a Growability consultant, we come in and teach your team.

Joshua MacLeod:
We help with your models, your processes, your marketing. We’re going to come along and really help your organization become a Growability empowered organization. So the cheapest way to get involved with Growability is free, which is listen to the Growability podcast and join the Growability podcast Facebook group, or ask for an invitation to that by sending an email to Joshua or bernie@growability.com.

Joshua MacLeod:
The most impactful way is likely joining a Growability collaborative with other business owners and leaders and going through a year long course. Or if you can afford it, bringing in a growability consultant to actually run through the Growability process and adopt the Growability process in your organization, and then just go out and kick butt for 20 years. So those are the three ways that I would recommend free low cost reasonable, moderate costs, so.

Bernie Anderson:
Those collaboratives are just downright fun.

Joshua MacLeod:
They’re incredible.

Bernie Anderson:
And when people are-

Bernie Anderson:
I mean, everybody that I’ve talked to, that’s been a part of a Growability collaborative are, “That was so helpful, but it was also just fun.” We’re going to sign off here. We want everyone to remember that you’re doing better than you think, and you have more potential than you know, and we appreciate all of you growing along with us at Growability.

Joshua MacLeod:
See you next week.

Podcast Announcer:
Thank you for listening to the Growability podcast. The mission of Growability is to equip leaders to flourish in their life and work by developing vision, rhythm, and community. To discover if there is a more excellent way to run your business, visit growability.com and speak with a certified Growability coach. Bernie and Joshua are also available for speaking engagements, workshops and conferences. Subscribing to this podcast helps Growability, equip leaders throughout the world. And we appreciate your support.