Is Your Team Busy – But Not Moving the Business Forward?
Posted on 8th April 2025 at 11:11
Why even committed teams can lose direction, and how smart leadership habits help refocus energy where it counts.
What I Hear From Business Owners Every Week
I’ve worked with over 500 business owners through BizSmart®, our SmartBoards® and Smart90® programmes – and interviewed many more on ScaleUp Radio – and I hear this all the time:
“The team’s busy. Everyone’s flat out. But we’re just not making the progress we should be.”
If that sounds familiar, you’re not alone. Even strong teams can stall when direction isn’t clear, priorities feel muddled, and effort isn’t translating into real results.
That’s exactly why we created our latest free eBook:
To help business owners like you sharpen team focus and boost accountability using simple but powerful tools like Stop Start Continue and Retention Conversations.
Even Strong Teams Need a Reset Sometimes
One thing I’ve learnt from the business leaders I interview on ScaleUp Radio and the business owners I’ve worked closely with through BizSmart® is this:
👉 A motivated team is a great starting point – but it doesn’t guarantee results.
👉 Clarity, focus, and regular conversations are what keep performance on track.
That’s where leadership rhythms come in short, structured moments that help your team reflect, reset and realign.
Tools like Stop Start Continue don’t just improve engagement. They improve execution.
What ScaleUp Radio Guests Are Doing Differently
Some of the most impressive growth journeys I’ve seen have come from founders who introduced smarter team habits not more complexity.
Runs regular team pulse checks to keep people aligned with purpose and progress.
🟢 Ross Latta – MacroFin
Brought in clear career paths and quarterly check-ins to reduce friction and lift performance.
Made space for well-being conversations and honest feedback – improving morale and motivation.
Connects team performance to customer feedback so everyone stays close to outcomes.
These leaders aren’t micromanaging. They’re creating ownership and clarity and that’s where real growth comes from.
Is Your Team Busy – But Drifting?
You might not have a “team issue” – you might have a focus issue.
Here are a few signs I often see in businesses that are growing, but not moving fast enough:
High activity, but unclear priorities
A team that’s motivated, but unsure where they’re making the most impact
A founder who’s still the bottleneck for decisions
Lack of visibility around what’s working vs what’s wasting time
If any of these feel familiar, you don’t need another performance review.
You need a leadership reset.
How Stop Start Continue Helps You Refocus Without Adding More Pressure
One of the tools I recommend to nearly every business owner I work with is Stop Start Continue.
Why? Because it’s simple, fast, and works.
It creates a space for the team to reflect on:
What’s not helping anymore
What needs introducing
What’s already working that should continue
And when you combine this with Retention Conversations, you get a deeper understanding of how your team is feeling – before performance starts to slip.
These are the kinds of habits we embed in our Smart90® planning and SmartBoards® peer groups. They’re not “nice-to-haves.” They’re essential for strategic growth planning.
📩 We break it all down in our free eBook:
Ready to Take the First Step?
Our free eBook gives you everything you need to run your first Stop Start Continue session plus the prompts to start meaningful, retention-boosting conversations with your team.
Inside, you’ll find:
✔️ A breakdown of how to use the framework effectively
✔️ Real-world examples from ScaleUp Radio guests
✔️ A step-by-step guide you can implement straight away
✔️ Simple prompts you can bring into your next team meeting
If you want your team to not just work hard – but work on the right things – this is a great place to start.
Tagged as: Team
Share this post: