Are you ready to grow (pt 2)?
You have a strong market share in your current market, you are performing well financially and you have recognizable reference customer. You have a good base camp for growth. What else do you need to do before you enter a new market?
I recommend you carry out two further checks – your equipment checks, if you like the mountain climbing picture. The first is check yourself. I’ll deal with your team in a further post.
If you are leading the market entry initiative, audit yourself. You are going to be leading your business into the relative unknown. Ask yourself – why am I doing this, really. The really is so you look at the real reasons you are taking on the risk – not just the publicly stated ones. If there is a 100% alignment between the real and the public – that’s great.
You also need to examine the tendencies and patterns of behaviour that influence your actions, because these will be amplified, and/or, exposed in the new market setting.
A useful tool to help you do this is Giant’s ‘Know Yourself to Lead Yourself’ methodology – see the diagram below.
The core of who you are is your skillset, your emotional intelligence and your understanding of how you are wired. This has worked in your existing market, but what is it really like to be on the other side of you? All of us have tendencies that are hardwired into our personalities. These create tendencies which we are not necessarily consciously aware of. These tendencies will impact your decision making process and form your default actions; and your actions have consequences which shapes yours and others reality. So, the impression you create is influenced by your tendencies. The more self-aware you are, the more able you are to choose your actions rather than having them defined by your ingrained tendencies. This is important in a new market because to be successful there will be times when you need to choose to do things differently.
If you want further information on how to know yourself to lead yourself watch the video here: Know Yourself to Lead Yourself - registration required.