Most, if not all businesses looking to scale will at some point experience slow growth, to varying degrees. But it’s so rarely spoken about.

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Sooo we spoke to executive coach and leadership development specialist Rebecca Morley. With a breadth of experience working with scaleups, Rebecca is well versed in providing guidance to founders navigating this challenge, so we sat down with her to get her thoughts.

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Check out the full conversation here, or read on for the highlights.

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Approach the problem with a healthy mindset…

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It’s understandable to feel uneasy when your numbers start to dip. But, as Rebecca rightfully pointed out, panic and worry are non-generative states. Simply fixating on the fact that there is a potential problem means the business is prolonging the feeling of stress and wasting energy that could be spent on creating a solution. Rebecca referenced Stephen Karmpan’s drama triangle to elaborate:

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Identifying yourself as a victim can bring about a disparaging mindset, which is less likely to motivate your team to find a solution, resulting in your business waiting for external factors to solve the problem, instead of adopting a more proactive stance.

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The victim mindset can also lead to wanting to place blame, looking for someone or something to criticise which ultimately only creates an unhealthy environment for you and your team.

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In order to escape such a negative cycle, Rebecca encourages founders to be intentional in the mindset you and your team take on when attacking the problem, as this plays a crucial role in finding the solution.

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Take a step back to focus on the bigger picture

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Being across the numbers for your business is critical for any founder. But, when it comes to working out why growth has slowed, placing a hyper focus on the data can be an overplayed strength. It’s important to take a step and look at the bigger picture:

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• What external factors might be at play? Think about competitors, seasonality and market shifts.
• What’s happening internally? Where are people dropping off? Are you over reliant on a few channels that have maxed out? Have you found product-market fit? Is your pricing right?

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A great practical way to do this is by taking a cross-functional team out of the business to workshop ideas. A change of setting can be the breath of fresh air needed to bring new ideas and a reinvigorated approach to the fore.

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Focus on delivering value to your customers

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With a focus on growth and revenue, it can be easy to lose sight of a key element; are you delivering real value for your customers?

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You can get an honest assessment of that by going straight to the source. Your customers are the make or break for your business, so getting their perspective is a great way to get a handle on the situation and make sure you’re laser focused on adding value rather than simply driving numbers. If you add enough value, and you have enough of a market, the numbers should follow.

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Break tasks down into smaller, achievable goals …

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A growth slump can be indicative of several things that are off kilter, it’s often not one single thing that’s driving it. This can be overwhelming to tackle all in one go, so breaking it down into smaller, digestible chunks for your team to focus on week to week can get everyone energised again, and feeling more positive and motivated through smaller successes.

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Something to remember when doing this as a leader is to give your team the space and freedom to execute these tasks and come up with their own ideas. Undermining or stifling your workforce by dictating what needs to be done can be demoralising, and might mean that they might be less willing to put their ideas forward when they are needed the most. Set clear goals and expectations and let your team do their thing.

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Our key takeaway from this conversation would definitely be don’t panic. No business has a linear trajectory, and slow periods of growth can often be part of a perfect storm in your journey. Don’t forget to hold on to the bigger picture and work calmly and methodically through the challenge.

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Has this happened to you? I’d love to hear how you tackled it. Or if this is something you’re working through right now, let us know - we’re here to help!

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PS: Rebecca is offering friends of The Scale Up Collective a £500 discount on her Elevate and Evolve leadership development programme for first time CEOs, MDs & founders of fast growth and scaling business, starting 8 & 9 February 2023 (use code: J5EXY5W).

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