SURVIVING THE HIGH GROWTH TRAP

Fast growth brings enormous satisfaction and even bigger challenges. The danger is that the heady sensations that accompany growth can conceal the very real issues it creates. Growth covers up underlying problems for a number of years, but when they surface (usually when the growth slows) these issues are much more damaging than if they had been addressed in a timely fashion.

Few people understand this dynamic better than Steve Davies, CEO of Edge Initiatives. As the founder and CEO of a five-time Inc 500 company that he grew to over 200 employees, president of a successful public company and an Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year, he has lived the growth curve. In the process, he developed a very real understanding of the pressure growth puts on a company's infrastructure organization and resources… and on the CEO’s time.

Drawing on this experience, the Edge team has developed the Growth Edge, a streamlined program that fuses the very different areas of consulting and implementation. In common with all Edge Solutions, It works by combining a cost-effective review of the company with an action plan and an implementation methodology that ensures that agreed changes are indeed made and not deferred. Under this process, Edge:

• Analyzes the five key areas where the pressures of growth are usually found.

• Delivers an action-oriented report of actions that need to be taken.

• Builds consensus and quarterbacks implementation.

The program can be accomplished with a minimum of CEO input up front, and is delivered over a short initial timeframe and at a fixed cost. Edge presents the action plan, builds consensus as to actions that must be taken and attends regular meetings to drive the process until all actions have been completed.

It comes at no risk to the company because the success of the program is guaranteed, or the out of pocket cost will be refunded.