Creating space to enable strategic growth

Posted on May 12th, 2023

G11 loves to work with inspired clients who want to grow, make an impact and get genuinely excited by the prospect of improving performance. However, we respect that the growth journey is not always linear - it can be hard to achieve when everyone in the organisation is super busy. Quite commonly we see organisations that have tried, or are trying - mustering additional effort, they have ‘doubled-down’ on what has made them successful to date. Taking on more and driving a strong ethos of ‘never say no’. A typical conversation for organisations at this inflection point of ‘busyness’ and ‘growth’ has two clear themes:

  • Frustration that there aren’t enough hours in the day to pursue the growth opportunities,
  • A realisation that there are emerging symptoms of burnout in the workforce and that retaining key people is going to require some changes.

G11 thrives on supporting clients to navigate this environment. The details are always different – however, the key steps are to:

  • Focus on the right customers and products/services – optimising impact, profit, level of risk, and organisational capabilities,
  • Mature the organisational structures and systems so processes and information are consistent and reliable,
  • Enhance reporting and governance for better decision making and visibility,
  • Build capability and role clarity across the workforce – enabling people to ‘step up’, be accountable and see a future with the organisation,
  • Value and use the ‘space’ from reduced ‘busyness’ to specifically target growth opportunities.

Creating space to enable growth is a rewarding journey. G11’s Principal Consultant, Ben Mercer, is a strong believer that growth doesn’t happen by chance in the fifteenth hour of a workday. He is particularly focused on supporting clients to navigate this journey. Facilitating the process to achieve clarity on what’s important, the structure that will deliver, and supporting how the organisation will get there.

“Many Directors (or Owners) are particularly taken with the concept of becoming redundant from operations,” says Ben. “Creating the space for motivated high achievers removes the ‘shackles of success’. That space enables strategic growth, they push forward to add more value – with more fun.” Through the process, Ben notes, “the bonus is the workforce, your people, benefit with new development opportunities, greater responsibility and an inspiring growth story they can believe in”.

Sally Carbon

Sally Carbon

Founder, Director and Principal Consultant

Sally Carbon is the founder of G11 Teams – setting up the business late in 2011 in response to serving a distribution company based in Melbourne which designed high fashion clothes in Paris – it was a fun way to kick start her own business. Her diverse client list grew, covering all sectors, and various organisational sizes and scales. Sally is a business strategist, helping companies to grow, finding their competitive advantage, and driving high organisational performance through leading-practice strategy. Sally has consulted for 15 years, specialises in strategic growth, across all sectors from financial services, not for profit, resources, agriculture, education, and private sector. She was formerly the Director of Docklands Authority in Melbourne, a large scale urban renewal the size of Melbourne’s CBD. Sally is also a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors, and was first placed on a government board when she was 22 years of age. She is an Olympic and World Cup gold medallist, and has released nine books. Sally loves to work with like-minded high performance thinkers who enjoy feeling ‘uncomfortable’