Do You Really Have a Growth Plan?

Most SME owners tell me they have a growth plan.

However, when I ask to see it, what I’m usually handed is a financial budget with a sales target at the top.

That’s not a growth plan. That’s just a number.

A Growth Plan Is More Than a Budget

A true growth plan is intentional and:

• Identifies the levers that will create growth (new markets, price increases, higher margins, better processes, team expansion and development, stronger sales pipeline with targeted customers).

• Links actions, owners, and timelines to those outcomes.

• Brings the team into the process, so growth isn’t just the founder’s target but instead it’s everyone’s shared direction. (As I say, so everyone is on the same bus to arrive at the same location).

Without that, each department ends up going in their own direction:

• Sales chase volume, even if it kills margin.

• Operations firefight instead of scaling with the growth.

• Finance focuses on cuts to save more money instead of reinvesting in growth drivers.

And the founder? Exhausted, trying to pull it all together.

Why Founders Don’t Involve Their Teams

Some founders are afraid to bring their team into growth planning.

• “If I show them my ambitions, they’ll think I’m unrealistic.”

• “If I involve them, I’ll lose control.”

• “They’ll only focus on problems, not solutions.”

But from my experience, that fear is usually wrong.

When you exclude your team, three things can happen:

1. Misalignment : Everyone assumes different priorities.

2. Resentment : The team feels like they’re just order-takers and are expected to just work harder to achieve this growth.

3. Missed Opportunities : This is the biggest thing I have come to realise. The people closest to your customers and processes often see growth blockers a lot faster than you do.

The truth is, involving your team doesn’t weaken your role as founder, it strengthens it.

A CEO’s job isn’t to have all the answers. The most successful CEOs that I have worked with all focused on creating clarity, direction, and alignment within the teams.

A Better Way: Shared Ownership of Growth

When you involve your team in shaping the growth plan, three things shift:

• Alignment: Everyone knows what matters and why.

• Commitment: People back the plan because they helped create it and therefore feel part of the growth.

• Focus: Energy is channelled into coordinated progress, instead of constant firefighting.

Practical First Steps

If you want to start involving your team in growth planning:

1. Start Small - Pick one area (e.g. sales growth, delivery process) and invite the team to brainstorm actions.

2. Frame It Clearly - Share the growth target and ask: “What will help us get there faster, and what might hold us back?” Don't just include one department here for example sales team only. Include people from all departments. I also love to ask "What is the risk to us going for this growth?"

3. Listen First - Resist the urge to jump in with your solution. Gather the insights.

4. Turn Insights Into Actions - Choose 2–3 initiatives and assign clear ownership to members of the team.

5. Review Together - Build in monthly check-ins, so the plan isn’t a one-off exercise and just sits in a drawer somewhere.
   
   

So here’s the question to sit with this week:

👉 Do you have a genuine growth plan, or just a number on a spreadsheet?

And if it’s only a number, what’s stopping you from asking your team to help you shape the roadmap?

Growth isn’t achieved by hoping everyone will “just get there.”

It’s achieved by planning with intention and bringing the right people on the journey with you.

If you would like to chat on how this could look in your business, just DM me with the word PLAN and I'd be happy to help.