Growth Breakpoints: Fix These Three First

Growth doesn’t implode overnight. It starts with one crack. We unpack the three places where scaling companies tend to break first: communication, quality control, and owner leadership. From replacing hallway talk with shared systems to redefining what an A player looks like at scale, this conversation is a field guide for leaders who want momentum without the meltdown.

If you’re scaling a business, leading a franchise, or leveling up a team, this episode gives you a clear checklist to stabilize what matters and move faster with fewer fires. Listen, take a note or two, and then tell us: where’s your next small fix that will unlock big momentum? Subscribe, share with a leader who needs it, and leave a quick review to help others find the show.

Transcript

The First Thing That Breaks

SPEAKER_01 0:00

When it comes to your growth, one thing breaks first and then everything else follows. And it can be this really fast crumbling effect that happens if you're not careful. Um, so really there are three things we feel like are key um hindrances, if you will, with growth that you have to be really careful about making sure that you are keeping top-notch communication, quality control, um, and the owner itself. So without further ado, let's dive in.

Fast Growth And Measured Moves

Communication Starts Cracking

From Small Team To Departments

SPEAKER_00 0:25

Let's do it. Yeah, so one of the things that happens when your business starts to grow, and and we've experienced pretty quick growth here recently. Um, I think it's been measured, right? I think we've done our best to try to make sure that there's a a method to the madness in a lot of ways. But one of the third first things I can break down is communication. And so um, what does that look like? It's communication with your clients, it's communication with your teammates. Talk a little bit about um what that has meant to you at Lyndon Creek and what maybe some examples of what this looked like.

Redefining A Players

SPEAKER_01 1:13

Yeah, I think the biggest place that I've seen this recently has been more so with our team. So, like Lyndon Creek at its infancy, you know, there were a team of maybe four or five of us all together, and you're spending every moment of every day together. You're doing everything together, and so you don't realize how much internal communication happens just in the midst of the day-to-day and casual conversation until that's taken away. And it's like every time you step further away from um an immediate team member, you realize how important it is for you to communicate because they can't read your mind and they don't know about all the updates that are happening. But we experience this all the time. I mean, I was in a situation just this last week where I was talking through something with a team member and I was like, I never even told you and completely failed to communicate to you that, like, hey, these new initiatives are going to be happening three months out, and we're really excited about them. So you need to know that pertinent information, but it was on me to not communicate. And so I think when you're growing, you know, we had seasons in year two where you're like, shoot, we're growing, we need to communicate better. You nail it. And then year four, you're like, shoot, we're growing again. We need to communicate better. And there is never this like, well, I've landed and figured it out moment. And I think the bigger your team gets, the more you grow, the more clients you have. In our instance, the more franchise owners we have, the more you realize how important it is to reframe the way we communicate. So it used to be, hey, maybe I can send out an email to my team at the end of every day and we're all on the same page. And then it was maybe we're having morning huddles every morning for 10 hours, 10 minutes before the day kicks off. But now we're in a season where it's like we need to have SOPs for sure for everything. We need to make sure that oftentimes we don't just get to have one-on-one meetings anymore with our team members. We're having full department meetings so that everybody that's gonna be impacted by the topic we're talking about is in the same room and we're all speaking the same language and on the same page with where things are going.

SPEAKER_00 3:03

Yeah, and I think uh I'll let you speak to this too, because this is near and dear to both of us, but recently have zeroed in on so if you're gonna have effective communication as your business grows, you clearly need leadership, right? You have to replicate yourself as the owner, and I think that's one of the points we'll talk about in a second. But talk about the importance of an A player, right? When you're talking about communication. Like, what does that look like to you at Linen Creek? What would that look like for a good business?

SPEAKER_01 3:31

Yeah, an A player. Um, I think my favorite thing when I think about A players is like how I would define an A player four years ago is different than how I would define it today. And I hope it is different in three years from now than what I would define it as today. Um, today, in this season of who we are, I define it as somebody that is um mission focused, that believes in the mission more than they care about, maybe the day-to-day, their job description, et cetera. Um, that is finding ways to make our team and our organization more efficient, more successful, is thinking of ways to serve our client better and like level up our game. Like we are in a season where if every smart idea that comes out of London Creek has to come from my brain, we're hosed. Like I can't be involved enough at these depth levels anymore into each and every department. And so I'm really leaning on our team to say, hey, Alisa, here's a way that we can be 5% better, 10% better, whether it is in our operations, whether it's a sales strategy that we can take to our franchise owners that's going to allow them to increase sales 20%. I mean, you name it, but it's finding those opportunities that to me is really an A player.

Expectations And Real Feedback

SPEAKER_00 4:42

Yeah. And then communicating things, right? You know, to that are going to move the ball forward. I in a past life, I read a book called The Ideal Team Player. And the three main attributes um that are consistent across the board are somebody that's hungry, humble, and smart. And they have to be all three of those. They can't just be two of the three or one of the three, because people can be hungry but not humble and smart, or they can be humble and and and not smart. You follow what I mean? So, like the they our A players at Linen Creek are defined by just backing up what you said, they take initiative, um, they don't wait to be told. Um, you know, they are efficient with their time um and the way they relay things to their team. I, you know, so from a communication standpoint, I think it's important that your leadership clearly understands where you're going, and then they in turn can help um implement with implement that with their teams, right?

SPEAKER_01 5:38

The other thing that I think is huge about communication is like we can talk all day long and give, you know, memos or SOPs around how to do something and make sure we're all on the same page about systems and processes. But um one thing that I'm learning in this season of our growth is the importance of communicating my expectations and um how proud I am of my team. Sometimes we are so busy just going like you're popping from one meeting to the next all day long. You don't have time to see straight or see up. And it's it's this year, especially. I think I've realized the importance of communicating to my team like you just knocked that out of the park, like you crushed that, and not to say like you just crushed that, but you crushed it because you exhibited these behaviors or you did things, these things to make us better. Or hey, you're kind of missing the mark here. Like my expectation is that we do these tasks and we get these things done, whatever it may be. But communication is just as much here's how we do it as it is, let me give you honest feedback of what you're doing well and what you're not doing well, because it will tell you every single person on our team wants to be successful and wants to do it well, but they're not gonna know how to do that if I don't tell them and I'm not giving them pulse checks on like, yes, you are, or no, we need to grow in these ways.

SPEAKER_00 6:48

Yeah. We give them um permission to fail and room to rise. Yep. You know, because nobody's gonna be perfect. Do you know what I mean? So um that's what creates a good leader for sure.

SPEAKER_01 6:59

Well, and I mean, like to bounce off of this, remember you had an instant, an incident um this year where a team member came to you and she was really disappointed and she was like, Hey, I must really be failing at my job. You're not communicating with me, and we're not having these meetings. And you were like, No, it's the opposite. I have so much trust and faith in you that like I don't feel like I need to pulse check. You're finishing my sentences, you go crush it, let me get out of your way.

SPEAKER_02 7:24

Correct.

SPEAKER_01 7:24

But it's those simple things where you're like, but I guess I need to communicate to say, like, you're crushing it, you don't need me, but I'm still here. Yep. Um, so that someone isn't misunderstanding or mistranslating it for a completely different meaning when actually they're knocking it out of the park.

Quality Control Meets SOPs

SPEAKER_00 7:40

Yeah. Talk about quality control in those SOPs, right? Yeah. That's the second point here that can really just kind of go haywire when when you're trying to grow and scale. Um, you know, really being able what we've done at Lennon Creek is we've taken something that's very creative and have been able to, or you have, excuse me, you've taken something that's a very creative just sort of industry, if you will, and you have really still given the freedom to create, but you've put in so many systems and processes. Like, hit us with a few of them. Like, what are some of the ones that that Lennon Creek does really, really well?

SPEAKER_01 8:14

Um, you know, I think in terms of SOPs, it's it's a matter of like building out a framework and creating checklists, but having them be in a way that people are actually going to use them. Um, that's the sweet spot. It's like I remember when I first built the ops manual for franchising and it was like this 300 and I don't know, 62 page document, right? Painful to write, painful to read. And I was like, okay, team, here you go, do this. And no one read it and no one followed it, and no one remembered what was in it. And so I think when it comes to quality control, and you're like, cool, let's put these systems in place, let's put these SOPs in place. They have to be SOPs that people are going to read and can easily access and can implement because if you're going to give them a 300-page document, lesson learned, that's not how somebody just sort of learns something and implements it. And so it's us continually testing, hey, we've got this system. Maybe we've got a new hire coming in that's that's training the way we're telling them to train, that's using the SOPs the way we're telling them, and they're still missing these three things, then we need to reevaluate a better way in these three things to reinforce those behaviors or streamline or simplify, like that's one of our favorite words lately is simplify the checklist so that it's not 200 different items that they need to do, but can we get it down to 20? If we miss one or two of these, which ones can we get rid of so it's easier for them to learn their job quickly and we're getting consistent results.

Train With A Four-Step Method

Owner Accountability

SPEAKER_00 9:37

Yeah, that's good. That's good. One of the things that we do with um at our at our organization when we're trying to teach somebody something, um, we use a four-prong philosophy, right? So the first step is I do, you watch. The second step is I do you help. The third step is you do, I help. The fourth step is you do, I watch, right? That really gives somebody the chance to see something four times. And then by the time we get to time number five, they've built up that confidence and that ability to be able to implement whatever it is that we're trying to do to move the ball forward. You know, as the COO at Linux Creek, uh operations and systems are really, really important. Yeah, right. It's a big organization, there's a lot happening. Um, and so we're certainly not perfect in that space and we're trying to get better every day. Um, but again, I can't stress enough, like having the right people in place is congruent with the right system in place. You gotta have both of those. Um, and so really just always evaluating your leadership team and then always evaluating the systems by which you all move your mission forward, whatever that may be.

Founder As Bottleneck

SPEAKER_01 10:40

I think the last piece of it is, you know, as as we've grown and watched in instances where like a quality control all of a sudden drops, and you're like, ooh, why did it drop? Let's problem solve. If you are a business owner, it is your fault, like through and through. And I have that approach. Either you didn't train your employee correctly, or you didn't hire correctly, but somewhere in the line, you did something wrong. And I don't say that to say like you suck at what you're doing. I say that to give encouragement because there is some sort of skill that you can better yourself on to make a better decision, to learn from it, to do better. And there are plenty of times where we've had quality control, takes a little bit of a dip. And so then I look at it and I go, did I hire wrong? And if I hired wrong, what hiring decisions did I make that I should do differently? What did I learn from this? Did I not give my team member the tools and the resources to be successful at their role? Was there not sufficient training in this? How do I provide more training in this if that's the case? But I would say the biggest thing with quality control as your company is growing is to ask, it's really easy to point and go, they just suck at their job or they just didn't know how to do it. But you have to realize as a business owner, if your company is going to grow, you have to put that on you. And there is something that you did that falls short that keeps them from being successful and keeps your organization from growing. And so once you take that and internalize it, it actually allows you to go, what skills do I need to develop? What lessons do I need to learn? And how do I get better? And I think that really leans in on our last part of what's the big thing that that can cause something to break in a growing business. Um, so you and I went to a conference um last fall um for franchising. Um it was the emerging brand um conference. And so we had the opportunity to just be around other franchise models in totally different industries and learn from some of the veterans in the industry um valuable things. And one of the things that was said at that conference that was like slightly terrifying and also very exhilarating is they said one of the biggest reasons franchises can fail is because the founder can't get out of their own way. And I thought, you know, that applies absolutely to franchising, but that's not just franchising, that is every business. There comes a certain point where your business is going to grow so fast and you either need to level up your skills to keep up with it and be successful, or if you don't keep up your skills, you have to bring somebody into your organization that can take the reins at that season and bring it forward. Um, I remember kind of seeing the writing on the wall a couple of years ago as we started to do this like really wild exponential growth that we're experiencing right now. And I brought in one of my team members and I looked her in the eyes and I said, listen, where we are today is not where we are gonna be in 12 months, and it's not where we're gonna be in 24 months, but we are gonna do big things. And I want you still right by my side every ounce of this way. But you and I do not have the skill set to lead a company in 24 months the way that we do today. And so it is our job and our and our duty, if we're going to do this and do this right, that we keep learning and we keep educating ourselves and we keep training and finding out how we can be better because the only way that we're gonna be able to lead success in 24 months is by leveling up our own skill set or knowing as an owner that you maybe don't have the skills that your organization needs and choosing to bring in a CEO that can lead at that level.

Step Away To Test Systems

SPEAKER_00 14:08

Yeah. We we say all the time, right? And again, this is just me learning from one of my favorite leaders in the past, shout out Craig Rochelle, but you can have control or you can have growth, but you can't have both. You know, and he often says, too, you can become the lid to your organization. And so that's terrifying from an owner's standpoint. Um, but being able to let let that go to people that you trust, um, you know, the individual you just talked about know that person really well, and there's many of them in our in our organization, but we had to get there, right? Um, and we had to identify that stuff too. So um kudos to you as the owner for being able to acknowledge that. Um, because when you let go and you trust others, then that's when collectively the whole thing begins to rise. Um, that's really important.

Fix Small Red Flags Fast

Closing And Listener Invite

SPEAKER_01 14:57

Well, and I think, you know, it's interesting. It has been the seasons where I physically step away. Um, you know, whether it is a full day of content creation or it is, you know, us traveling for a business trip or whatever and we're out of pocket for three days straight. But whatever those seasons are, those are my favorite times to like test the system. And when I come back after being away for three days, you go, how many things broke, or we're bottlenecked because I couldn't give an answer. And what I'm finding is most of the time things move faster, they move smoother when I'm not in everybody's way, being like, wait, let's just make sure, let's double check how did everything go. And so use those opportunities within your own business to do it as a pulse check and say, like, what broke? And what do I need to delegate and train and lead up on when I am away so that I'm also not the bottleneck? Growth is an exciting time in business, um, but it's also a very honest time. It is going to be the thing that is going to show you what is working and where you're successful. And it's also going to very quickly highlight where you have weaknesses. And those weaknesses don't mean failure. It doesn't mean you're failing at being a business owner. It just opens your eyes to opportunities to rebuild, to reset. Um, and I think really focusing on those three things: communication, quality control as a big those two being big um indicators. And then finally, your own ownership and leadership of the business and making sure that you're leveling up. When you really keep reevaluating those, it's quick fixes and flips in those seasons rather than everything crumbling and you feeling at a loss. So fix those little things first. Once you start to see that red flag, make the changes that you need to, and everything else improves afterwards. That's the sort of leadership that your team needs, and that's the thing that allows your business to be wildly successful. Our goal in this through and through is to add as much value for you as we can. And so if this was a valuable conversation, let us know. Like, subscribe, comment down below. We'd love to create more content like this or something different. Um, so keep that communication line open. But thanks for listening and excited to see you next time. This is in Good Space.