When times are good, we don’t really challenge ourselves to change. It’s true – we don’t really take a good look at ourselves until we are tested by adversity. Well, there’s no question that our industry is facing adversity right now. But instead of battening down the hatches, maintaining the status quo, and even cutting back, the advice to SME’s, even those in the oilfield services sector, is to pursue and prioritize growth. At first it might not make sense – but think about it. Ours is a boom and bust industry. The boom will come again, and when it does, we need to be ready. We need to prioritize growth…we have to be ready to scale our organization by building a flexible platform on which to deliver this growth – in terms of resources, headcount and technology – and do it NOW, so we can respond to changes quickly when they happen.
It’s an unnerving thought. But if you want to hit the grounding running when the economy turns around again, it’s necessary.
Read this Report written by the Economist Intelligence Unit on Scaling SME’s: Building a flexible platform for growth, based on their research of several successful SME’s. Though the ideas are unnerving and even a bit risky, there are a lot of truths in their research.
Have a great weekend! And start thinking of prioritizing growth!
