Building a team that can scale with your business

I’ve learned over time that a business isn’t built on products, services, or even strategy, it’s built on people, but I didn’t always know that.

The first time I began to expand and scale one of my early businesses, I focused on hiring skills. It made sense because I needed people who could do the work, deliver results, and keep the engine running. But I missed something crucial. I was building a business based on a team for today’s business, not the business I wanted in five years. And that misalignment cost me plenty of sleepless nights and drama because everything seemed to be going slower than I hoped or expected.

I see this oversight all the time in the companies I work with. Founders and business owners hire to fill gaps, solve immediate problems, and keep up with growth. But then, a year or two later, they realise they’ve built a team that’s either outgrown the business or is holding it back.

So how do you build a team that grows with, and drives your business, instead of becoming a bottleneck? How do you recruit people who will take the company forward, not just keep it running? And how do you make sure your culture doesn’t get diluted as you scale?

This blog is about the how. Not just what you should do, but my real-world experience-driven insights on how to do it. I’ll share my own lessons, what worked, what didn’t, and what I’d do differently if I had to start again.

Because the truth is, scaling a business isn’t just about selling more. It’s about building a team that can take it further than you ever could alone. And please remember, this is not about doing things wrong, mistakes, or blame, because we can only make decisions based on what we’ve learned and our experiences up to today. Hindsight is all well and good, but what are you prepared to do about it when you could benefit from another, more experienced person’s hindsight, to add to your own?

This blog is in support of my 21 Steps to Found and Grow a Company, because I wanted to go into much more detail and give you a roadmap which I didn’t have space to do in the 21 Steps blog and eBook.

Building a team that truly aligns

It’s easy to assume that if someone has the right skills and experience, they’ll naturally fit into your business and contribute effectively. But alignment goes deeper than just capability; it’s about shared vision, values, and the ability to execute together.

Early on, I did what I thought made the most sense at the time. In one of my early businesses, I brought in people who were exceptional at what they did. They had the credentials, the technical know-how, and strong track records. On paper it was a winning team. But over time cracks started to show. Decisions took too long and communication felt strained. And worst of all, the team wasn’t pulling in the same direction. It felt like everyone had their own interpretation of where we were going, and the result was inefficiency, friction, and frustration. Read more about employees creating their own version of your purpose and vision if it’s not clear for them. Read this blog here.

I couldn’t have known back then that recruiting for today’s needs, not for where the business was heading, would have such an impact on the pace of growth. I just did what I thought was right but subsequently realising I hadn’t been clear enough about the why behind our goals, or how each role needed to evolve to meet where the company was going.

How I fixed it:

• Defined and communicated a clear vision:Instead of assuming alignment would happen naturally, I made it explicit. I set out a vision for where we were going and what success would look like.
• Hired for adaptability and mindset, not just skills:I started looking for people who weren’t just great at their job today but had the curiosity, resilience, and ability to grow with the business.
• Embedded alignment into decision-making:Rather than dictating strategy from the top, I involved the team in shaping the way forward, ensuring everyone had ownership of the direction we were heading.

The shift was dramatic. Once the team was fully aligned, decisions became quicker, collaboration improved, and we moved forward with greater momentum. And the lesson stuck with me: a business grows best when the people within it are not just capable but deeply aligned with where it’s going.

Ask me about how I use my Future Job Descriptions principle in my own businesses and with my clients.

Recruiting for the future, not just the now

Hiring usually starts by being reactive, it certainly was for me. Sales improves or a key employee leaves and demand on other’s spikes. A new opportunity emerges, a new product or service, and suddenly there’s an urgent need to fill a role. In these moments, it’s easy to focus on immediate skills rather than long-term potential. But I’ve learned that recruiting purely to solve today’s problem often creates tomorrow’s bigger challenge.

I’ve seen this play out many times, not just in my own businesses, but in companies I’ve worked with. A founder needs an extra pair of hands, so they recruit someone who can jump in and deliver quickly. A year later, that same person struggles because the role has evolved beyond their capabilities, or worse, they resist the changes needed to take the business forward.

So how do you hire for where you’re going, rather than just where you are? Here’s what I’ve found makes the difference:

1. Identify future leaders, not just employees
   I stopped recruiting just for execution and started recruiting for potential. Instead of asking, “Can they do this job?” I began asking, “Could they grow into something bigger, could they grow into a role that’s one or two steps ahead of the role they’re applying for?”. I looked for problem-solvers, people who could think beyond their immediate tasks and see the bigger picture.
2. Prioritise adaptability and attitude over experience
   Experience is valuable, but I learned that adaptability and attitude matter more when building a team that can scale. I began to embrace different DISC styles, recognising that a diverse mix of personalities and approaches creates a more resilient and dynamic business. I found that when I prioritised adaptability, people were more willing to grow with the company rather than resist change. And beyond that, I realised that recruitment isn’t just about filling a role, it’s about ensuring that every person finds fulfilment in their work. When people feel valued and aligned with the business’s direction, they don’t just perform better; they actively contribute to the company’s long-term success.
3. Balance urgency with long-term thinking
   I understand the pressure to recruit quickly, and I’ve certainly been in situations where I felt I had no choice but to bring someone in fast. Back in 2003 I hired a highly skilled candidate on short notice to fill a critical gap, and to my mind it was critical at the time! On paper, they had everything we needed, but in practice, they struggled to adapt to our fast-changing environment. Six months later, we were back at square one, searching for a replacement.

Contrast that with my now tried and tested philosophy of taking a step back, despite the urgency, and focusing in on finding someone who not only has the right skills but also the adaptability and mindset to grow with the business. These new team members are not just effective in the role, they can seamlessly evolve into key leaders who help shape our future strategy.

A rushed hire that doesn’t fit, costs far more in lost momentum than waiting a little longer for the right person, however critical you might feel it is right now. Slowing down just enough to make thoughtful recruiting decisions has been one of the most valuable shifts in my approach. It’s also part of my Six Plan Strategy – read about it here

4. Involve future planning in the recruiting process
   Instead of thinking about the role as it stands today, I started mapping out what it should look like in 12-24 months. What challenges will this person need to tackle? How should their role evolve? Then, I hired with that roadmap in mind. Again, ask me about how to use my Future Job Descriptions principle.
5. Invest in development early
   A strong team doesn’t just come from recruiting, it comes from growing the right people within your business. I started identifying employees with leadership potential and giving them the resources, training, and stretch opportunities to prepare them for bigger roles.

The result was a team that wasn’t just keeping the business afloat but actively driving it forward. By hiring with the future in mind, I’ve avoided the costly cycle of recruiting, outgrowing, and replacing employees. Instead, I’ve built teams that scale with the business, and that’s made all the difference.

Hiring for culture without creating an echo chamber

Culture fit is critical, but if you’re not careful, it can become a trap. I’ve seen businesses, mine included, fall into the habit of hiring people who “fit” so well that they think alike, act alike, and rarely challenge each other. It feels comfortable at first because decisions are quick and meetings are harmonious but over time, it creates an echo chamber. When everyone agrees with you, innovation slows, fresh ideas get overlooked, and the business risks stagnation instead of growth.

A client I worked with had this exact challenge. They prided themselves on their strong, family-like culture, but as they scaled, they found that new team members struggled to challenge existing ways of working. The result was that innovation slowed, decision-making became increasingly insular, and those who felt unheard left quickly, forcing the founder to go through the costly and time-consuming process of recruiting all over again.

How we fixed it:

• Redefined culture fit:Instead of looking for people who fitted the existing mould, we started hiring for culture add, people who shared core values but brought different perspectives and experiences.
• Encouraged healthy dissent:With leaders actively inviting differing viewpoints, ensuring the team wasn’t just agreeing out of habit and convenience.
• Changed recruiting patterns:We expanded recruitment beyond the usual networks to attract a more diverse range of candidates, sometimes outside the industry because they brought real outside-the-box thinking.

With all this in place, now new ideas surfaced, problem-solving improved, and the company became more resilient to change. The business also saw increased employee retention, as team members felt more valued and engaged in shaping the company’s direction. Collaboration strengthened, and decision-making became more dynamic, driving faster and more effective innovation. The lesson we learned: Hiring for culture should mean shared values, not identical thinking.

 Onboarding for long-term success

Most onboarding processes focus on getting a new team member up to speed as quickly as possible with logins, policies, procedures, and maybe a brief introduction to the company’s mission. But real onboarding is more than just information transfer; it’s about integration. The goal isn’t just for new team members to understand how the company works, not just as they begin working for the company, but also as the company begins to work for them. It’s for them to feel like they belong, to see where they can contribute, and to develop a sense of ownership in the company’s future.

One of the biggest failures I’ve made in the past was assuming that once someone joined the team, they’d naturally find their place. But I learned that people don’t just “find” their place, they need to be guided into it. Using DISC profiling, I began tailoring onboarding to match different working styles, ensuring that each new recruit was given the right kind of support to integrate effectively. A structured, thoughtful onboarding process, aligned with their DISC style, can mean the difference between a new team member thriving or disengaging before they even get fully started.

Key lessons I’ve learned:

• Onboarding doesn’t stop after week one:Many businesses front-load onboarding in the first few days and then assume the employee will integrate on their own. I found that a structured onboarding plan over the first 90 days (or even six months) leads to better long-term success.
• Mentorship and peer support matter:Pairing new team members with mentors or buddies can help them navigate the culture, expectations, and challenges of their role in a way that no handbook ever could.
• Early wins create long-term engagement:I started ensuring that every new recruit had a small but meaningful project within their first month, something that gave them a sense of contribution and momentum from the start. Also part of the leadership journey as described here: Practical Guide to Leadership

The companies that invest in proper onboarding see stronger retention, faster productivity, and a more engaged workforce. I’ve seen many studies that suggest employees who experience a structured onboarding process are 58% more likely to remain with a company for three years or more. On the flip side, poor onboarding contributes to higher turnover rates, research suggesting that up to 20% of new recruits leave within the first 45 days if they don’t feel properly integrated.

The cost of repeated recruitment due to poor onboarding can be substantial, with estimates suggesting it can take up to 6-9 months to finally work out how to find the right person, and cost several multiples of an employee’s salary to replace them. But the financial cost is just one part of the equation. Constant recruitment and turnover disrupt team cohesion, lowers morale, and places additional strain on existing employees who must repeatedly onboard and train new recruits while maintaining their own workload. This cycle of instability can slow down growth, reduce overall efficiency, and impact the long-term success of the business. The effort up front pays dividends down the line, not just in retention but in long-term business growth and stability.
Read more about How to Get Recruitment Right First Time, parts 1 & 2 here

Developing People So They Stay and Grow

Hiring great people is just the beginning. The real challenge is keeping them engaged, motivated, and growing within your business. When employees don’t see a future for themselves, they leave, and replacing them costs time, money, and momentum. There is further research to suggest that up to 94% of employees would stay longer at a company that invested in their career. Yet, too often, training is treated as a checkbox rather than a long-term strategy.

In my businesses, I link employee appraisals directly with job descriptions that focus on their next role, giving them at least a 12-month development pathway to work with. This approach ensures that every team member has a clear trajectory for growth, whether they are new to the team or long-standing employees. We don’t just offer occasional development boosts, we create tailored growth paths based on each employee’s DISC profile and strengths. This results in a more motivated workforce, with higher retention, and a pipeline of internal talent ready for leadership roles, benefiting both the individuals and the business as a whole.

The companies that master employee development don’t just retain staff, they build teams that actively drive the business forward. That investment pays off in both stability and long-term growth.

How to maintain the DNA of your company as you grow

Growth changes everything, including company culture. What starts as a tightly knit, value-driven team can quickly feel diluted as new team members join the company, departments form, and layers of management evolve. But if culture is left to chance, the very essence of what made your business thrive can slip away.

I’ve seen it happen firsthand, both in my own businesses and in the companies I’ve worked with. A fast-growing company hits a new milestone, only to find that what once felt like a dynamic, values-driven team has now become fragmented. People aren’t as engaged. Decision-making slows. And somewhere along the way, the sense of shared purpose dissolved away.

So how do you scale without losing the DNA of what made your company great in the first place?

The warning signs that your culture is slipping

Culture shift happens gradually, and often, founders don’t notice the change until it’s already causing problems. Some of the key warning signs I’ve seen include:

• A drop in engagement:If team members start disengaging from meetings, offering fewer ideas, or just doing the bare minimum, something is off. Often also noticeable at company social events.
• Increased turnover:A sudden rise in employees leaving voluntarily can be a red flag that they no longer feel connected to the company.
• ‘Us vs them’ mentality:As teams expand, it’s easy for silos to form. If you start hearing more complaints about ‘management’ versus ‘staff,’ or different departments blaming each other, cultural misalignment is likely creeping in. You’ve only to listen to the conversations between staff at your local supermarket to know what that sounds like!
• Inconsistent decision-making:When your core values are strong, decision-making aligns naturally. But as culture fades, you’ll notice more friction, confusion, and conflicting priorities.

In 2021 I started working with a company that had grown from 12 to over 30 employees in just two years. In the early days, everyone knew the founder’s vision by heart. There was a sense of unity, shared ambition, and a clear understanding of what the company stood for. But as they scaled, new team members joined without the same immersion in the company’s core values. Leadership assumed culture would take care of itself, but without structured efforts to reinforce it, alignment began to fray. Long-time employees felt disconnected from decision-making, newer team members struggled to see how they fitted into the bigger picture and soon, what had once felt like a mission-driven team, became a fragmented workforce. Employees began voicing concerns that decisions no longer felt aligned with the company’s original values. Team meetings became quieter, with fewer people willing to speak up. Cross-department collaboration, once seamless, started to feel transactional.

Within a year, they were dealing with high turnover, internal conflicts, and a growing sense that “the culture isn’t what it used to be.” It was clear something had to change. The leadership team recognised that culture wouldn’t sustain itself without action, so we worked on a structured plan to bring alignment back into the company’s DNA. Through inclusive and transparent communication, leadership accountability, and initiatives designed to reconnect employees with the company’s purpose, they were able to rebuild engagement and restore a sense of shared direction. Read more about Richard’s story in my Case Studies

Practical systems for embedding values at scale

The best cultures aren’t built through posters on the wall or occasional team-building events, they’re embedded into daily business operations. Here’s what I’ve found works:

Hiring and onboarding with culture in mind: Use your values as a recruitment filter. Don’t just ask candidates about their experience, ask about the principles that drive their decision-making. Make culture part of onboarding. Instead of a one-time session, reinforce values consistently in the first 90 days through mentorship, feedback loops, and leadership modelling.

Leadership as culture champions: As companies scale, culture isn’t maintained by the founder alone, it has to be carried by leadership at all levels. One of the best changes I made in my businesses was tying leadership performance to cultural alignment. If a manager didn’t actively reinforce our values, they weren’t the right fit. Read more about Vision Carriers here

Regular cultural ‘health checks’

As businesses grow, I’ve found it valuable to schedule formal culture check-ins. This could be through anonymous surveys, employee roundtables, or 1:1 meetings where team members can voice concerns before misalignment becomes a problem.

Why culture can impact your bottom line more than you think

Some leaders see culture as ‘nice to have,’ but the reality is that culture directly affects performance, retention, and ultimately profitability.

• Retention & recruitment:Companies with strong cultures see 40% lower turnover rates than those that don’t.
• Productivity & performance:Studies show that organisations with engaged employees outperform competitors by up to 202%, (Forbes Business).
• Customer satisfaction:Employees who feel connected to their company’s purpose deliver better customer experiences, leading to stronger brand loyalty and higher revenues.

Another company I worked with came to me with declining performance despite strong revenue growth. We discovered that their leadership team had successfully moved from operations to vision and strategy, but hadn’t realised that employees felt a sense of being left behind and disconnected from the company’s purpose. After a structured effort to reinforce values, including leadership training, better communication channels, and culture-driven recruitment, they saw a measurable increase in engagement, innovation, and bottom-line results. That measure being the third of my recommended economic priorities for companies – employee retention rate.

Scaling doesn’t have to mean losing culture, it just means being intentional about how you embed it. The companies that master this don’t just grow; they build businesses where people genuinely want to stay and contribute. And that, more than any strategy or process, is what makes scaling sustainable. Read more about Step 4 in my 21 Step to Found a Company

Attracting and Retaining the Best Talent

In today’s competitive hiring market, securing top talent isn’t just about making the right offer, it’s about creating a business that the best people actively want to be part of. While big companies may have deeper pockets, small and scaling businesses have distinct advantages if they use them strategically. The real challenge is not just in attracting A-players but in ensuring they stay, grow, and contribute meaningfully over time.

I’ve already covered recruiting for alignment, future-proofing your team, and maintaining culture at scale. And do search my Blog Pages for more on recruiting and culture. Building on those principles, we’ll now focus in on how to become a destination employer, one that attracts and retains top talent, not just by competing on salary but by offering something far more compelling.

How to compete for top talent when larger companies offer bigger salaries

Salary is important of course, but it’s not the only factor that determines whether top talent chooses (and stays with) a company. Many of the best candidates are looking for more than just a wage, they want meaningful work, career growth, and an environment where they feel valued.

Here’s how I’ve seen smaller businesses successfully compete:

• Flexibility as a key differentiator– Many high performers value autonomy, remote work options, and flexible hours more than a slightly higher salary. A well-structured approach to flexible working can be a major draw. Read about the Catch in Remote Working
• Giving people a voice– In large corporations, employees can feel like just another cog in the machine. In a scaling business, the opportunity to contribute, innovate, and make a direct impact is far greater, and this is a compelling selling point for the right people to join your company.
• A clear path to growth– One of the biggest reasons people leave roles isn’t money, it’s stagnation (and poor management, but that’s for another day). If top talent sees a structured plan for their progression, they’re more likely to stay, even if they could earn slightly more elsewhere.

Creating an environment where A-players want to stay and grow

Getting great people through the door is only the first step. The real challenge is keeping them engaged and committed over the long term. I’ve found that the companies that succeed in retention do so because they create an environment where top talent thrives. Read more about The Right People here.

• Culture fit without culture stagnation– A-players don’t just want to ‘fit in’, they want to contribute. This means hiring for alignment, not uniformity, ensuring that new team members bring fresh perspectives while still sharing the company’s core values.
• Empowering employees to own their work– Micromanagement is one of the fastest ways to lose high-performing individuals. Giving employees real responsibility and ownership over projects fosters engagement and drives results.
• Continuous learning and development– If employees feel like they are continuously growing, they are far less likely to leave. In my businesses, I always link appraisals to a 12-month development pathway, ensuring every employee, new or existing, has clarity on their next steps.

Structuring roles, rewards, and career progression to align with business growth

Many founders make the mistake of structuring their teams for their current needs rather than the next stage of growth. This leads to frustration when employees outgrow their roles or feel like there’s nowhere to advance. Here’s how to avoid that trap:

• Designing roles that scale– Job descriptions shouldn’t be static, they should evolve as the business grows. I’ve found that structuring roles with built-in growth opportunities not only improves retention but also creates a leadership pipeline.
• Tangible, meaningful rewards– While salary matters, recognition, additional responsibility, and growth opportunities often outweigh purely financial incentives. Tailored incentives, like additional training, mentorship, or involvement in strategic projects, can be just as powerful as salaries increase.
• Creating an internal talent pipeline– Promotions shouldn’t feel like a mystery. When employees know what’s expected to advance, they are more likely to stay engaged and motivated. A structured pathway to leadership not only retains top talent but also ensures a steady supply of future leaders.

With these steps in place you become a talent magnet, not a revolving door

Businesses that intentionally build environments where top talent thrives gain a competitive advantage far beyond salaries. They develop engaged, motivated teams that drive innovation, create lasting value, and ultimately, make scaling sustainable. By embedding career growth, autonomy, and cultural alignment into the foundation of the business, you don’t just recruit great people, you keep them, develop them, and create a company where top talent wants to be.

Imagine this: Your team member arrives home from work at the end of their day to be asked “How was your day today?” What would they say, would it be complaining about a colleague not doing their job, a grumble about management, complaints about workload and deadlines? Or would they wax-lyrical about how productive they’ve been, what they’ve achieved and how fulfilled they feel. You know you’d like it to be the second version, but in your heart you probably know it’s more often the first version.

The founder’s role in building a team that lasts (and final thoughts)

Scaling a business isn’t just about recruiting the right people, it’s about enabling them to thrive, contribute, and grow with the company. The challenge is that as founders, we start by doing everything ourselves. We build the business from the ground up, make all the decisions, and drive every result. But for a company to scale beyond its founder, the team must become the engine of growth. And that requires a shift from being the driver to becoming the enabler.

The shift from being the driver to enabling others to lead

One of the hardest yet most necessary transitions for any founder is stepping back from day-to-day control and allowing others to take ownership. It’s tempting to stay deeply involved in every detail, but that creates a bottleneck, both for the business and for the team’s ability to develop.

I learned that when I kept inserting myself into every decision, my team defaulted to relying on me rather than thinking critically and solving problems themselves. The turning point came when I realised that my need for control was preventing the company from reaching its full potential and scaling beyond any one individual, including me!

Letting go doesn’t mean disengaging, it means creating a structure where the right people are empowered to lead, make decisions, and drive progress without needing constant oversight. It means setting clear expectations, fostering accountability, and trusting that you’ve built a team capable of taking the business forward.

The moment I realised I had built a team that didn’t need me daily

There was a defining moment in my second businesses when I took an extended trip away (it was my 40^thbirthday and we took to the Caribbean for a cruise). For years, I had been the go-to person for every decision, every escalation, and every strategic move. But during this time, I made a conscious decision to step back and let my leadership team run the business without my direct involvement.

At first, I expected the usual flood of calls and emails seeking my input. But days passed, and they didn’t come. Instead, my team was handling issues, making decisions, and keeping everything moving. When I returned, I realised something profound: the business was no longer dependent on me for daily survival. I’d spent time building up to this but never really accepted it as a possible reality until it actually happened.

This was the ultimate validation of everything I had worked toward, not just building a business, but building a team that could sustain and grow it independently, and in reality, better than me. And that’s when I truly understood what scaling meant: not doing more, but enabling more.

Some things you could begin to implement right now

Here are the key actions that helped me build a team that could scale, in steps you can start applying today:

1. Redefine your role as a founder – Instead of being the problem solver, focus on being the enabler. Your job is to set the vision, define the culture, and create the conditions for others to succeed.
2. Recruit and develop for future growth – Don’t just fill gaps for today, build a team for the business you want in three to five years. This means recruiting adaptable people, creating career pathways, and ensuring roles evolve as the company grows.
3. Build a culture that reinforces itself – Culture can’t be something you impose, it has to be something the team embraces and delivers. Embed it into how decisions are made, how people are recognised and rewarded, and how new team members are integrated.
4. Create systems, not dependencies – If your business can’t function without you, it’s not scalable. Not just a brief holiday, but several weeks even months. Implement processes, empower decision-making at multiple levels, and make sure knowledge isn’t trapped with a few key people.
5. Let go of perfectionism and control – Founders often believe no one will do things as well as they do. But the real test of leadership is enabling others to perform, even if they do things differently than you would. You didn’t start your journey being perfect at everything, so why expect those you lead to be immediately perfect too.

A scaling business isn’t built on one person’s effort, it’s built on a collective of talented, aligned individuals who drive it forward. The moment your business can run effectively without you is the moment you know you’ve truly built something that lasts.

Call me for a chat – happy to share more and help where I can.

Work with me:
I help owners, founders and leaders create a scalable business that works without them, build a world-class team, and 10x profitability. Book a call with me here to see if we could work together.

Remember, there are only three types of people – those who make things happen, those who wait for things to happen, and those who talk about why things don’t happen for them. Which one are you?