The messy middle of business: when what got you here won't get you there

16 Oct

There’s a key turning point in running a business where the things that got you to where you are start to become the things that hold you back.

Solid habits, the decisions you make, how you work - all the things you created, spent a lot of time on, feel proud of and worked brilliantly.

On the surface, nothing seems wrong, but underneath, something is different and you’re feeling stuck in the weeds.

Welcome to the messy middle.

In my video this week, I talk about the story of The Dragonfly and the incredible transformation that can happen when you leave behind the world you know to follow your instinct.

What is the messy middle in business?

The messy middle is that uncomfortable stage where your business has grown, but the way you work within it hasn't quite caught up.

As you’ve added more people, more moving parts, more decisions and a bigger weight of responsibility, you naturally carry on working the same way you always have.

You stay involved in things you really don't need to be involved in. Even the smallest decisions are being pushed all the way up to you. You know you need to step back and step UP, but you're not entirely sure what stepping back and stepping up actually means.

And that's where it gets messy.

What got you here might not get you there

In the video, we use the story of the dragonfly to explore what happens when something has to leave behind the environment it knows to become what it needs to be next.

There’s a parallel with growing a business.

Because growth isn't always about doing more, more, more.

At this point in the journey, it's about recognising that the habits, beliefs and ways of working that were absolutely right for one stage of the business aren't necessarily right for the next.

And that's difficult to accept precisely because they worked - you’ve had months, years of evidence showing you how they made you successful.

They're a large part of how you got here.

But now the business has changed, what it needs from you has changed too.

You don't need to know the answer yet

Being in the messy middle doesn't mean you've got it wrong.

And it certainly doesn't mean you need to tear everything up and start again.

You just need enough space to get out of the day-to-day, look at the business from a different perspective and ask:

What does the business need from me now?

Creating space for what comes next

This is a big part of what we mean at WildEdge when we talk about creating space and removing noise.

Getting out of the business - the environment that stands as testament to all the habits, beliefs and ways of working you’ve built - isn’t just about having ‘an away day’, it’s about getting a better perspective and having space to see what's actually going on, and where things might lead to.

To reflect on what you're still carrying that you don't need to carry anymore. To challenge some of the assumptions you've built up along the way. And to work out what the next stage of the business needs from you.

The Rewilding, which I talk about in the video creates the conditions for the Dragonfly to emerge.

And creating the space to step away, get a different perspective and see what needs to change is also central to the work we do with founders more broadly.

You can’t shoehorn another strategy, another tool or another thing to do into your business when you’re already creaking under what you need to do.

You need enough distance to see what needs to change.