The Plateau Test - ALASTAIR DRYBURGH

Has your business reached The Plateau? Answer the following 8 questions to find out.

How does your growth rate now compare with what it was three years ago?

Faster than it was

Much the same – one year maybe a little more, the next maybe a little less

Slower than in the past

Which of the following best describes the people working for you?

I set objectives and they get on with it, often surprising me at how well they do

They perform OK, so long as I take a lot of time to organise, motivate and coordinate them

Nightmare; nothing happens unless I push, and I spend a lot of time resolving problems and interpersonal conflicts

Which of the following best describes your approach to customers or clients with unusual requirements?

We have our way of working, which suits most customers very well. If someone wants something different, we are happy to see them go elsewhere

We adapt to customer requirements when there is a good rationale for doing so

We are bent out of shape adapting to many, contradictory requests. It causes problems, but we don’t have a choice

Think about gaining new customers, innovating new products or making changes to the organization. Are these:

Easier than they used to be?

About as difficult as they used to be?

Harder, slower or more expensive than they used to be?

Which of the following best describes your experience with new recruits?

They do surprisingly well, even better than expected

They mostly perform in line with expectations

Frustrating and disappointing. They come with a good track records but don’t seem to reproduce that high performance here

You take a two week holiday. What is most likely to happen?

You will hardly hear from the office, and will return to find everything in good order

You will have a steady stream of calls and emails about fairly routine matters (which, you realise, could mostly have been resolved without you)

A crisis will blow up. You may even need to return early

How do you mostly spend your days?

I have fewer than five priorities and spend most of my time on those, moving the organization forward

Most of my time goes on routine, just keeping things going

Crisis management, problem-solving, resolving interpersonal conflicts

Is there someone doing something roughly similar to you (not necessarily a direct competitor) who is twice your size, twice as profitable or growing twice as fast?

Yes, and we have a plan for matching them

No, not that we can see

Yes, but we can’t see how we could emulate them