Scaling? Don’t Make These 3 Mistakes

Scaling is exciting but it’s also where many good leaders stumble. Growth exposes the cracks in your systems, your team, and even your leadership style.

Here are the 3 most common mistakes I see when leaders try to scale — and how to avoid them:

Mistake #1: Staying the Operator

When you grow, the “do-it-all” mentality becomes a liability. If you don’t shift from operator to builder, you’ll burn out and bottleneck your team.
Fix: Audit what only you should do. Delegate the rest.

Mistake #2: Scaling Without Systems

Adding people without processes only multiplies chaos. If roles, workflows, and communication aren’t clear, every new hire makes things worse.
Fix: Build simple systems before you add headcount. Clarity > speed.

Systems allow us (or others that we’ve delegated tasks to) to execute a repeatable process and produce high quality results.

Mistake #3: Avoiding Hard Conversations

Growth brings tension. Weak leaders dodge it, hoping it’ll “sort itself out.” Strong leaders lean into accountability, set standards, and enforce them fairly.
Fix: Tackle issues early — culture grows from what you tolerate.

One system for this is my CLEAR framework (Context, Level-set, Engage, Agree on next steps, Review). It is a repeatable process that helps you to dive straight into a hard conversation and get results. I’ll be making a podcast episode about this one soon! Until then, a good primer is my “Be Comfortable Being Uncomfortable” episode.

⚡ Quick Action

Ask yourself this week:

• Am I leading like an operator or a builder?

• Do I have systems my team can rely on?

• What am I tolerating that’s slowing us down?

Small course corrections now can save you big headaches later.

That’s it for this one. Until next time, take care of yourself and your team and start building the culture you know you want!

Lead from the front,
Jason
Co-Founder, Top Cover Consulting
Leadership isn’t given. It’s built.

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