A second-generation family-owned business (~€10M revenue) had been managed by the next generation for several years, but growth had stalled around the €10M mark. As complexity increased, most decisions — including everyday operational issues — still depended on the CEO and a small number of key individuals. Execution became increasingly reactive, priorities shifted frequently, managers turned into bottlenecks, and coordination across the business relied more on individual effort than on shared systems.
The company had moved into a new stage of growth, but the way it operated had not evolved accordingly. What worked at an earlier stage — direct oversight, informal coordination, and centralized decision-making — was no longer sufficient for the current level of complexity.
The Organizational Health Check™ revealed that the strategy, execution, and leadership layers were underbuilt. Specifically:
- Goals and priorities were clearly defined and/or understood across the organization.
- The structure did not establish clear ownership of results and execution depended on a few key individuals, rather than having a coordinated management system.
- Leadership capability had not evolved to support the company’s current stage of growth.
- As complexity increased, leadership visibility and organizational alignment decreased.
At this stage, the priority was to build the infrastructure needed to support effective and efficient continued operations, versus expansion. New initiatives were deliberately deprioritized. The work followed the sequencing logic of the MS Playbook™. We started with the strategy layer — creating a structured process that the leadership team used to connect the company’s strategy to operational goals and priorities against which progress and performance could be tracked. The rest of the building block followed:
- The organizational structure was redesigned around clearer ownership and accountability. Roles, responsibilities, and decision-making authority were clearly defined and agreed to by the leadership team.
- Leadership capability was strengthened through a program of management and leadership skills trainings to support decision-making beyond the CEO.
- Growth resumed after a period of stagnation and remained consistent for over two years. Decision-making moved beyond the CEO into the leadership structure.
Execution shifted from reactive coordination to planned and tracked priorities.
At the end of year two, the Growing Pains – a symptom of underbuilt system layers – decreased from 35 to 28.5, reducing the risk of execution breaking under growth.
The organization now operates through aligned system layers, enabling it to sustain performance without reliance on individual effort or constant founder intervention.