We live in a moment where companies expect and are expected to grow every year. The belief: We have to generate more than last year, be more, much more, period. I think that belief is mistaken and makes often leaders push their companies or teams through rushed decisions to nonsense-continuous gold fever.

Growth for no reason

I had a boss that every year said, “We are gonna double our growth this year”… We asked why. He said, “Because we have to and I want to’’.

We created new areas and services and hired people, to sell more and grow as fast as possible without questioning how we would pay for this or how we should do it. Sales were the only important thing.

No strategy there. Just impulse, reactivity, maybe some arrogance, fear, ignorance, I don’t know. But you could hear it. That belief: We have to grow, no matter what.

We did it, and then, after tons of risk denial, more mistakes, and difficulties in producing the work we start losing clients and losing money.

We became weaker. We forgot to be stable. Every decision became a death-or-alive moment. To much pressure, anxiety, and fear to make good decisions.

I think this story is more common than it should be.

Companies need to make money and grow, but that growth often drives to a lack of stability, pain, and tons of frustration, especially if you are not ready for it.

What if ‘that growth’ was the wrong decision

Making money is more a consequence than a goal. It’s the result of successfully facing different inflection points.

Inflection points are simply life. Every day, things change around and inside, and companies need to adapt and transform by responding to them. As a consequence, they make money, grow, and last.

Proof of it is a crisis. A crisis will come sooner or later in forms that we can’t expect. It will happen, no matter how much money you made in the latest few years if you have to fire your people and close the company.

Being prepared for that moment is a way to grow. And that should happen before that crisis overcomes. What if at a very specific moment, more than the sense of searching for profits we should develop a sense of being solid and stable? Being prepared to navigate difficult times.

That’s growth, compatible with making money, and sounds like fewer layoffs, more companies in the market, and probably a healthier mental state.

What if, at some point, more than the sense of searching for profits we should develop a sense of ‘solid and stable? Being prepared to navigate difficult times.

Prepare the company for the next inflection point, that’s growth and maturity.

It’s all about honesty

I worked for a major bank. Every year, conversations focused on what to design that could help them to sell faster or/and more.

The truth is this company never had a problem getting customers. They had thousands of branches, agents, and an exhaustive call center offering financial products to everyone in the country. But they had a huge problem retaining them.

Their websites and applications were messy and difficult to navigate. Their legacy systems and dev teams were terrible at providing technical solutions and times to market. They were always behind schedule to release an update. Way behind.

As a consequence, customers were not able to make basic operations like a transfer or use a card to buy something on the internet without problems.They had to continuously call customer service that was not prepared to solve those simple problems. Imagine the frustration.

As a result, they lost the same amount of customers they got, every month, and the response was always adding pressure on getting new customers to balance that inefficiency.

Growth meant redesigning their current applications, transforming their technology systems, dev teams, and leadership, and bringing research and design to the table. They decided that was too expensive and too stressful. Instead, they did what they knew was faster: Sell more.

Imagine they could’ve retained their customers by giving them, what they expected, just normal service. Tons of growth, less pressure, and more stability.

Looking in another direction is a way to lie to you that eventually will drive you to a stuck or breaking point. Honesty is key to facing the right situation. You can not solve what you don’t want to see or face.

Uncovering more ways to grow: Focus on beating failure

A mentor told me once: “If you want to succeed at Design you should learn why design fails as much as why it works because failure happens more often than success” and that drove the way I see design since then.

Most ideas, companies, products, and services fail. Every time a project starts there’s a huge probability of experiment failure at some point. It’s normal, many variables are playing at the same time, sometimes against each other.

There are hundreds of reasons. Bad ideas, no market fit, lack of strategy, bad timing, lack of resources, wrong positioning, lack of healthy founding, bad naming, lack of structure… And why not, a bad product or service design or experience? If you think about it, you’ll find dozens more.

‘What can make you fail or is making you fail?’ That’s a key question.

Are your customers loyal? Are they happy using your products? Are your products providing the experience that customers expect? Do they reach all the customers they should? Are they engaged with your brand? Is relevant enough? Are your teams performing well? Are they happy enough? Are your processes efficient? Are you financially ready for the next step? Ready for a crisis? These question moments can be endless, but I think I made my point.

Every risk, failure, or inefficiency is an opportunity in itself. Time to design solutions, time to rethink how your brand or products can be redefined or transformed to face every possible or current failure point. And every one of them solved is a step to becoming a stronger and long-lasting company.

Aitor González

My posts are just the result of my own experience, life moments, and opinions. Not everything here will work for everyone. Feel free to make them yours if they work for you, and ignore them if not.