Two themes Winning Workplaces has identified among past winners of our small business award are a president/CEO who leads the firm for a long time, relative to his or her peers, and purposely keeping growth manageable by cautiously approaching such variables as product/service and facility expansion as well as adding employees.
These two themes can be (and often are) combined, invariably leading to long-term growth. Such growth is not particularly glamorous, but it nonetheless ensures the stability of the firm and, just as important these days, the continued employment of its workers, the livelihood of their families, and the vitality of their communities.
For example, one applicant for our 2010 Top Small Company Workplace award with Inc. Magazine says they've implemented an employee cap – in addition to walking away from opportunities that could mean a big payday, but which could prove unmanageable and, therefore, could lead to a souring of the company's reputation, a decreased sense of workplace team building, and undue employee stress. Here's how their account manager puts it in their application:
We aim to never grow past seventy-five people, as we appreciate the benefits that come with operating a small company. We don't want to lose our intimacy, and at a maximum size of seventy-five employees we know we can accomplish a tremendous amount without losing the culture that has made us so unique.
The CEO of this organization has been in this role since its founding 9 years ago; the average CEO tenure among all our 2010 award applicants is almost 11 years.
Some of the business benefits that have accrued as a result of this firm's embrace of these two themes are:
- Three-year revenue growth of over 240%
- Profitable over at least the last 3 years (both of the above statistics in an especially tough economy for their industry)
- CEO-led employee engagement has contributed to a strong average employee tenure of 4 years
Related: Another benefit that comes with long-term CEO leadership is more time to implement an effective succession plan. Two of our honorees discuss their experience here in this webinar recording.
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