Helping You Navigate Your Inevitable Scaling Challenges
About You
You've successfully grown your business to its current size. You sense friction is on the rise, and its starting to, or you're concerned it will start to, drag performance down.
Is this normal?
Yes, its very normal. As more processes, functions & people join, complexity increases, requiring different or completely new approaches.
As your business moves from 20 to 50 to 70 to 100+ headcount, each scaling stage requires a different response.
You're likely to be an MD/CEO of a business with:
- 20 - 250 headcount
- Experiencing scaling friction or organisational strain
- Strong ambition but in need of help to address established or emerging complexity challenges
It sounds and feels like:
- Things used to feel simple, now they don't
- We have managers but unsure if they're up to the job
- We've taken on more people but deliver less
- Leadership team alignment weakening as pressure grows
Intuition Limit: Scaling Challenge at 20 - 40 Headcount
To big for "gut feel"; too small for structure
At 20-40 headcount, your business still feels like a small team but your sense of control is starting to slip.
Typical Pain Points include:
- Decisions can't be made on gut-feel any more
- Everyone's busy but sense that things aren't getting done
- Informal communication starts breaking down
- You're the hub everyone is feeding into, creating a bottleneck
- Management layer emerging but role & responsibilities aren't clear
Welcome to the
Intuition Limit Growth Stage - too big to run the business on "gut feel" but still feels too small for formality. To succeed, you need to start letting go. Mindset shift & clarity of role responsibilities & processes are needed.
Control Challenge: Scaling Challenge at 40 - 60 Headcount
LOSS-OF-CONTROL FEELING PREVELANT; INCONSISTENT MANAGEMENT SYSTEM
At 40 - 60 headcount, the business feels chaotic but you fear bureaucracy. more bur. You're regularly pulled into your business, with little time to focus on the business.
Typical pain points include:
- Managers in situ but they're unclear on purpose & expectations
- Decision making slows down
- Communication & performance is patchy & manager dependent
- Gaps in ownership emerge & tasks slipping through those gaps
- Friction & blame between teams become pronounced
- You're uncertain where you should spend your time
Welcome to the Control Challenge Growth Stage. You've outgrown previous practices used to run the business. To succeed, each function needs to step up. Consistent management practices & cohesive management team are needed.
Alignment Strain: Scaling Challenge at 70 - 90 Headcount
complexity has multiplied; needs alignment
At 70-90 headcount, running the business feels complicated and heavy.
Typical pain points include:
- Silos exist & departments optimise for own goals, not business
- Cross-functional friction increases
- Leadership team mis-aligned & pulling away from each other
- Purpose & focus of each management layer unclear & unaligned
- Organisational complexity outpaces clarity
- Sub-cultures abound & standards vary
Welcome to the
Alignment Strain Growth Stage. You've outgrown your current operating model but unsure of how to fix it. To succeed, you need to coherently align the organisational system. Intentional organisational design is needed.
System Stressing: Scaling Challenge at 100+ Headcount
Organisation needs to become a system that works independently
At 100+ headcount, you have too many direct reports & functions reporting into you. Decision-making authority must be delegated.
Typical pain points include:
- Leadership team still looking to you rather than to themselves
- Question marks over middle-management ability
- Culture diluted with some sub-cultures causing issues
- Lack of clarity on approval processes slowing activity down
- Increased compliance & governance obligations
- Financial complexity increases & margins are under pressure
- Manual workarounds still in place, even with tech investments
Welcome to the System Stressing Growth Stage. The organisation has outgrown you & needs to become an independent system. It requires clear organisation design and multi-level leadership & management capability to work effectively.
New Book Coming Soon!
Get notified when Irial O’Farrell’s innovative new book on performance management is released. Re-imagining Performance Management for the 21st Century is the perfect literary companion for executives and business leaders seeking to evolve their business practices!
Resources for Business Growth
As a thought leader and author, Irial regularly contributes to podcasts and articles. Feel free to explore these resources and how they relate to your business success.
Get Dedicated Business Coaching
As an MD/CEO, sometimes you just need that space to help you step back and reflect on what is really happening. That’s what business coaching gives you – the space and support to reflect on where your business is currently, where you want to bring it to and the right path to take you there.
We’re Here to Help Your Business Evolve
If you feel it’s time to face your business’ challenges and adapt to new dynamic solutions, drop us an email to schedule a free 30-minute consultation.