Member-only story
I am a firm believer that organizations need different leaders at different stages of their lifecycles. This is because different management skill sets are needed as an organization moves through the stages of growth.
At the start-up stage, a General Manager (GM) who is entrepreneurial is essential to finding and developing the business’ USP. Then as the business grows, a GM who is focused on structure and organization is needed to set the company up right. Thereafter, when the business enters maturity, a visionary GM who understands the business and the business environment is then essential to help the business find its next s-curve.
As such, the “right” leader is dependent on recognizing the current stage a business is in and hiring or promoting the person with the correct skills for that stage.
Greiner’s Growth Model
According to Greiner’s framework, organizations go through different phases as it grows. At each phase, the organization faces different types of crisis requiring different managerial capabilities and organizational culture to overcome the crisis and continue the growth.
For younger organizations (Phase 1 to Phase 3), individual performance is key to growth. In these phases, while collaboration is good, it is not…
