I’ve got three things I spotted recently for founders in scaling businesses:

1. Reorganisations aren’t the answer​

Colin Mulholland explains why the restructure is often the wrong tool for many of the problems that founders need to fix in their businesses. But using them as part of a mix of changes can be effective, as long as as they sit alongside a deeper rethinking of ways of working.

My take: I recognise a past failing of my own here. Early in my managerial career I relied too much on restructuring to try to fix problems in teams. Colin sums up nicely the approach I’ve since come to believe in. A short piece and worth the two minutes it’ll take out of your day.

2. Urgency and the ROI on reflection​

This article from the team at The Ready talks about the danger of working with urgency alone. Scale-ups are invariably moving at pace, but if that comes at the expense of deep learning from what’s gone before it can be a fool’s errand.

My take: As a coach self-reflection is strongly baked into my practice. In businesses I work with I try to create opportunities for leaders and teams to look back and learn from their experiences together. This article does a good job of explaining why you should do that and the value it can give.

3. Respect over popularity as leaders​

I like this old HBR article as it nicely sums up many of the traps that leaders can fall into. It sets out the tension between a natural human desire to be popular and the need for leaders to do what’s necessary, not popular.

My take: Leaders spend their lives managing tensions and trade-offs. Accepting that doing the hard thing is the right thing and then delivering on that with grace, integrity and focus is what sets good leaders apart.