Don’t Stop Believing: Breaking the Growth Ceiling

Print business leaders often think the biggest challenges are talent, technology, or market conditions. Not dismissing these at all, but one that is often overlooked is internal, the belief that we’re already doing all we can. This mindset can quietly cap growth, innovation, and engagement and is often framed by their experiences. I’ve written that we know what we know. And what we know is shaped by where we’ve been, what we’ve read and listened to, our experiences and what’s on our calendar. Who are you hanging around with and what’s on your to-do list? The good news is that you can influence these by the decisions you make every day.

The Comfort of Familiar

Success can breed complacency. Teams get comfortable doing what’s worked before, as long as the variables don’t change. The concern is that the variables change daily and are often subtle and go undetected. “We’re busy” becomes the substitute for “we’re improving.” My challenge is this: what are you working on today that will make tomorrow better than yesterday? Leaders question assumptions and push for the next level of performance–starting with their own performance, habits and behavior

Recognizing the Warning Signs

What are the warning signs? Flat growth despite a strong market, the same 5 names on every new project, and team leaders saying, “we don’t have time for that.” This problem isn’t laziness; it’s just a lack of perspective, a lack of belief.

How to Break the Belief Barrier

Please note, this isn’t meant to suggest blind optimism. This is having a unified clarity of where the business needs to go and a roadmap on how to get there. Here are a few ideas to help break the barrier to progress:

• Reframe Success– Measure progress by learning and innovation, not just output. Rethink your KPIs and OKRs.
• Encourage Constructive Discontent– Create space for teams to ask, “Why do we do it this way?” You’ll need a safety net for this. Your team will only do this if they feel safe.
• External Perspective– Bring in clients, peers, or advisors to challenge assumptions. Clients can help re-frame your initiatives into areas that will move the needle in increasing your market differentiation.
• Pilot Something New– Nothing rebuilds belief like a small win from trying something different. First, determine if this is a one-way or two-way initiative. Meaning, if it doesn’t work can you go back to what you were doing.
• Invest in Capability-Building– Leadership programs, cross-training, and modern sales tools reignite confidence and growth. This helps growth but also has a side effect of employee success, loyalty and retention.

The Payoff and Closing Thought

Once belief expands, capacity will follow. Capacity to do the things everyone said you couldn’t do. Your teams start seeing possibilities instead of obstacles. The attitudes change, the engagement increases and mysteriously, folks start to work “together.” Remember that growth isn’t about doing more, it’s about believing you can do things differently.

Mike Philie helps owners and CEOs in the Graphic Communications Industry validate what’s working, identify what needs to change, and create a practical path forward.

PhilieGroup | mphilie@philiegroup.com | LinkedIn

The preceding content was provided by a contributor unaffiliated with Printing Impressions. The views expressed within may not directly reflect the thoughts or opinions of the staff of Printing Impressions. Artificial Intelligence may have been used in part to create or edit this content.