If you’re running a £1M+ business with a team of 10 or more, you’ve probably had moments where you’ve thought:
Why am I still involved in decisions I shouldn’t be anywhere near?
Why do capable people keep missing what feels obvious to me?
Why does this feel harder now than when the business was smaller?
You may have quietly concluded that the issue is your people.
More often than not, it isn’t.
It’s clarity.
What this looks like day to day
On a daily basis, lack of clarity shows up in small, irritating ways that don’t feel strategic at all.
You get the same questions coming back to you, often framed as “just checking…”
Decisions stall because people are waiting for approval they technically don’t need
Good people do work that is correct, but not quite what you had in mind
Meetings end with agreement, then everyone executes something slightly different
You stay busy all day but struggle to point at meaningful progress
Nothing is broken enough to demand attention. Which is exactly why it goes on.
What this looks like quarterly
Zoom out to a quarter and the patterns become harder to ignore.
Quarterly goals are missed or only partially achieved, despite plenty of activity
Different teams interpret priorities in different ways
Projects drag on because no one was clear what “done” actually meant
Performance conversations feel vague and uncomfortable
You find yourself back in the detail to keep things moving
Usually, this is not a people problem.
What this looks like annually
Left alone for a year, clarity problems quietly tax the business.
Growth slows or becomes unpredictable
Capable people leave, often saying they want “something different”
Culture becomes inconsistent because expectations were never explicit
You finish the year exhausted, but can’t quite explain why
Planning for the next year feels heavier than it should
Why this happens as you grow
This is a leadership failure that arises as a side effect of growth.
In the early days, clarity lives in your head. Everyone is close enough to absorb it through constant conversation and shared context.
As your business grows, implicit clarity disappears.
How to fix it
Start with the long view. Make the direction of travel clear.
Set quarterly priorities that clearly serve that future.
Break execution down into monthly milestones and weekly plans.
Build accountability from the top down.
Focus on pride in doing good work, not incentives and threats.
The quiet payoff
The result is clarity, and the business feels much easier.
