The challenge
This fast-growing SME was moving quickly, but without a clear, shared sense of direction. As a result, meetings were frequent but often unfocused, reactive, and lacking clear outcomes or actions. As the business grew, leaders found themselves spending more time talking through issues than resolving them, with decisions regularly revisited and accountability unclear.
The leadership team felt the pressure to scale while still keeping the business running day to day. Without an agreed business model or clear priorities, time and energy were being lost, and confidence in the direction of the business was beginning to dip.
Key challenges included:
- Meetings without a clear purpose or structure
- Lack of alignment on priorities and direction
- Decisions being revisited rather than actioned
- Limited accountability across teams
The team knew something needed to change, but weren’t sure where to begin.
The approach
The leadership team was supported to create the space needed to pause and reflect on direction and priorities before introducing any new structure.
It became clear that business coaching was needed to help the leadership team identify the right tools to support their growing business, and to establish a stronger underlying model for how the organisation operated.
Rather than starting with processes or meeting formats, the focus was on building a shared foundation for decision-making and growth. This involved supporting leaders to step back, reconnect with what the business was trying to achieve, and agree how they wanted to work together to get there.
This phase focused on:
- Clarifying the business’s core values, purpose and niche
- Defining what success looked like, both now and in the longer term
- Exploring and agreeing a specific business model to support the growth and direction of the SME
The outcome
Once this foundation was in place, the team was supported to translate it into practical, day-to-day ways of working.
This included:
- Developing 10-year, 3-year, 1-year and quarterly plans
- Introducing a simple, repeatable meeting rhythm
- Creating weekly leadership meetings that focused on accountability
- Supporting leaders to hold clearer, more focused conversations that led to action
Alongside this, measurable scorecards were introduced to track company metrics across functions of the business, giving leaders greater visibility of progress and performance.
Throughout, the emphasis was on keeping things practical and proportionate, adding structure that supported the business rather than slowing it down.
The leadership team gained a shared sense of direction and greater confidence in how the business was being led. Meetings became more purposeful and productive, with clear agendas, decisions and actions. Time spent revisiting the same issues reduced, allowing leaders to focus more consistently on priorities that moved the business forward. And with stronger alignment at the top, teams felt better supported, creating a more stable platform for growth.
The impact
- Clearer direction and alignment across the leadership team
- More focused meetings with defined outcomes and accountability
- Measurable scorecards in place to track company metrics across business functions
- Reduced time spent firefighting and revisiting decisions
- Stronger foundations in place to support continued growth
By stepping back to agree direction first, and then translating this into practical structure, the business was able to grow with greater confidence and control. Leaders gained a calmer, clearer way of working together, and teams benefited from stronger alignment and more consistent direction in a fast-moving environment.