Most businesses grow by accident.
Scalable businesses grow on purpose.

If you’re a CEO, COO or founder trying to break past the next ceiling, the Scaling Up framework gives you a simple way to build a company that grows without burning out your leadership team.

Here’s how to make your business scalable, using the four key decisions of Scaling Up: People, Strategy, Execution, and Cash.

Scaling Up: 4 Decisions, People, Strategy, Execution, Cash.

1. When Scaling a business, Getting the Right People in the Right Seats is crucial.

Scaling stops when you become the bottleneck.
Your team structure is usually the first pressure point.

What to focus on:

  • Establish clear roles and accountability, there’s nothing worse than a team of well paid adults point fingers at each other.

  • Leaders who act like owners

  • High standards and cultural alignment

  • Removing confusion, duplication, and politics

One practical tool here is the Function Accountability Chart (FACe). It shows exactly who owns and is accountable for driving the most important functions of the business. Coaching 360 have a free downloadable template in our free business tools online library.

You should also define:

  • Your Core Values

  • Your Purpose

  • Your leadership behaviours

This ensures your people scale with the business, not against it and when you grow you.

2. Scale Up by Building a Simple, Differentiated Strategy

A scalable business doesn’t chase everything.
It focuses.

Scaling Up uses the 7 Strata of Strategy to help companies build a clear position in the market.

Strategic elements you must define:

  • Your “sandbox” – who you serve

  • Your brand promise – why customers choose you

  • Your guarantee – why they trust you

  • Your one big thing – the differentiator you own

  • A 3–5 year plan that your whole team understands

This strategy becomes the anchor for every decision.
If it doesn’t serve the strategy, it doesn’t get done.

3. Create Discipline in Execution

The fastest way to scale is to reduce noise.

Execution discipline is about doing fewer things better. It prevents teams drowning in tasks and lets you deliver consistently as you grow.

What Scaling Up teaches:

  • Daily and weekly meeting rhythms

  • Quarterly priorities (“Rocks”)

  • Clear KPIs and scoreboards

  • Fast issue resolution

  • A culture of accountability

When execution is strong, the company becomes predictable.
Predictability is what allows scale.

4. Strengthen Your Scaling Business’s Cash Engine

Growth burns cash.
Scaling requires controlling it.

Scaling Up focuses heavily on Cash Acceleration Strategies (CASh) to help you free up working capital and finance growth internally.

Areas to tighten:

  • Shorten your sales cycle

  • Reduce operational waste

  • Improve pricing strategy

  • Stop discounting

  • Increase gross margin

  • Remove unprofitable products/services

If cash is weak, scaling breaks the business.
If cash is strong, scaling becomes safe.

Learn how our business coaching programmes build stronger cash engines.

5. Build Systems That Let Go of the Founder

Most founders scale the business to its pain point.
Then the business scales them.

Scalable companies build systems, processes, and repeatable playbooks that turn tribal knowledge into company knowledge.

Look at:

  • Onboarding systems

  • Sales process

  • Marketing workflows

  • Training and development

  • Customer fulfilment

  • Reporting dashboards

Your company should run the same way on a Tuesday afternoon as it does when you’re on holiday.

6. Use Data to Drive Decisions

Scaling up means fewer gut decisions and more data-led decisions.

You need:

  • One simple dashboard

  • A handful of critical numbers

  • Real-time visibility into performance

  • Weekly data reviews by the leadership team

This transparency removes drama and speeds up the organisation.

Explore working with Kevin Riley, Certified Scaling Up Coach and award-winning business growth specialist.

7. Commit to Leadership Development

A business scales at the speed its leaders grow.

If you want to build a company that reaches £5M, £10M, £20M+ you need a leadership team that can think ahead of the business, not behind it.

Invest in:

  • Leadership alignment sessions

  • Executive coaching

  • Conflict resolution frameworks

  • Communication training

  • Board-level facilitation

This strengthens your organisation’s decision-making and reduces the load on the founder.

Explore how Kevin Riley is chosen by scaling businesses for Leadership Alignment and Board Facilitation.

The Real Reason Businesses Don’t Scale

It’s rarely the market.
It’s rarely the competition.
It’s rarely the product.

Businesses fail to scale because they lack structure, clarity, and discipline.

Scaling Up gives you the blueprint. Coaching 360 brings the hands-on support to implement it.

Want to Make Your Business Truly Scalable?

If you’re a CEO, COO, or founder leading a business with real growth potential, Kevin Riley and the Coaching 360 team can guide you through a full implementation of the Scaling Up methodology.

Find a suitable time to see how Kevin Riley (Certified Scaling Up Coach) can enable substantiable scaling in your organisation.