A business has outgrown its own processes when workarounds have become the norm, the same manual fix is applied repeatedly instead of solved at the source, and processes designed for a much smaller team are now visibly straining under current volume.
Growing past your own systems
A business has outgrown its own processes when workarounds have become the norm, the same manual fix gets applied repeatedly instead of solved at the source, and processes designed for a much smaller team are now visibly straining under current volume.
Is this just a normal part of growth?
Yes, the real risk isn’t that this happens, it’s leaving it unaddressed long after the strain has become obvious to everyone working within the process day to day, simply because nobody’s had the mandate to stop and fix it properly.
The earliest sign to watch for
Recurring complaints from staff about the same process, especially ones met with some version of “that’s just how we do it”, is usually the earliest reliable sign. That phrase is worth treating as a flag worth investigating, not dismissing as normal grumbling.
Where to start
Map the strained process first, before assuming you already know exactly where the problem lies. The bottleneck is often somewhere different from where everyone’s instinct points, once it’s actually laid out step by step in front of the people doing the work.
Warning signs
- Workarounds have quietly become the standard way of doing things.
- The same manual fix is repeated instead of addressed at the root cause.
- Processes built for an earlier, smaller stage of the business are now straining.