It’s a natural assumption that if your business is running, it’s working. But what if that’s not quite true?
What if the business you own, or the business you’re leading, is quietly running against you more than for you?
This is a trap many business leaders fall into, often without realising it.
They’re busy, growing, and delivering. Beneath the surface, however, misalignment and missed opportunities are quietly eroding the business, including what it can do for them.
Understanding this hidden dynamic, and acting on it, is more important than most realise.
To avoid businesses slipping out of sync — and more importantly, understanding how to get them working for you again — it helps to look at the common challenges at different stages of business growth.
Recognising where you are often is the first step towards meaningful change.
Early Stage: Building Momentum vs. Building Control
In the early days, momentum and drive are everything. You’re hands-on in every area, pushing things forward with vision and enthusiasm.
This works until….it doesn’t!
The problem is forward motion doesn’t necessarily lead to sustainability. Without proper systems, clarity around roles, and a plan to delegate or scale, what once felt energising can become overwhelming. Decisions start stacking up, quality control becomes harder, and time disappears into operational chaos.
Not only that, if the business depends entirely on your involvement for progress, this stage can feel like one big pressure cooker.
To keep the business working for you, this is the time to start building out structure. Even the smallest frameworks:
- repeatable processes
- defined responsibilities, and
- strategic prioritisation
can free you up to lead, rather than chase fires.
Growth Stage: When More Isn’t Always Better
Growth often provides validation. Customers are coming in, your team is expanding, and revenue is up. But without strong alignment, growth can quickly become messy and unproductive.
You might find your team unclear on direction, your costs are climbing faster than profits, or your calendar is hijacked by operational clutter. You notice strategy starts to take a back seat as more reactivity creeps in.
At this stage, the challenge isn’t lack of progress, it’s lack of focus.
Without guardrails, complexity expands faster than capacity. Instead of leveraging the momentum you’ve built, the business starts sapping your energy and resources.
To get your business to work for you again means stepping back and intentionally recalibrating. Consider which products, services, or markets are worth your time. Are your team structures and systems supporting the outcomes you want?
Once strategy, people, and operations all move together, that is when you see real progress.
Plateau Stage: The Danger of Running On The Spot
Even when things look fine from the outside, many businesses plateau.
It’s often hard to name exactly what’s wrong because the business is still functioning. But the weight of decisions, the inefficiencies, and the absence of progress quietly take a toll. What many business owners experience is a feeling of working for the business, not the other way around.
This is when a reset is generally needed, looking at:
- what kind of business you actually want to lead, and
- what model, structure, or role would make it energising for you again.
A lot of the time, it’s not the whole business that’s in trouble, just the way it’s operating and, potentially, where you’re positioned in it.
The good news, these standstills can be powerful turning points.
What a Business Working for You Looks Like
At every stage, business success is as much about design as it is results. When a business is working for you, you’ll find that:
- Clarity exists around roles, decisions, and goals
- Focus is maintained on what actually drives performance
- Alignment connects strategy with execution, and people with purpose
- And leadership is proactive, not just reactive
And it’s not just about achieving growth or improvement.
It’s also about the freedom and fulfilment you derive from it as well. The ability to make decisions from a position of strength, to lead without burnout, and to shape a business or team that’s aligned with the outcomes and values that matter most to you.
What is important to keep in mind is that the misalignments have a tendency to sneak up on you. They build quietly, until the time comes that they’re too big to ignore.
Often, it’s only a few sharp adjustments that can make the difference needed.
Taking the Next Step
When realigning your model, refining your strategy, or simply working out what’s next, it pays to pause and take stock of where things stand right now. And how your business (and your leadership) can move forward with greater strength and direction.
Our Strategic Reset Planner is a great place to start. It’s simple, and can be completed in the time it takes to go for a coffee. Before you know it, you’ll have gained sharper focus around where you’re at, and where you could consider heading. Download the Strategic Reset Planner now.
