has grown, and with it, the pace of execution.
What you can do: Use your growth strategies to prioritize decisions, with a focus on those that will have the greatest impact. Set deadlines to avoid lingering choices. If needed, consider having an accountability partner to ensure you make timely decisions.
Growth Constraint Five:
Lack of Intentionality Intentionality is being deliberate and purposeful with your time, thoughts and actions. It means having a desired future state or outcome in mind and committing what’s needed to see it through.
In today’s reactive business
environment, most leaders are constantly “doing” without pausing to reflect. Once they’ve had success, it’s natural to continue functioning the same way and with the same mindset. Habits and routines take over, driving nearly all thoughts and actions, often at the expense of higher-value thinking. That might keep the day- to-day operation going, but it can come at the expense of the overall business. Without intentional time to assess strategies, systems, people, and opportunities, constraints go unaddressed and growth often stalls. Lack of intentionality is commonly
rooted in unclear purpose, undefined strategy and insufficient focus. I’m reminded of one company that was caught up in putting out daily fires, leaving it with little time to define strategic priorities. The result was poor accountability throughout its organization and little sense of the goals everyone was supposed to be working toward.
The businesses that see higher growth are the ones that create proper growth strategies, increase their digital maturity, gain real-time visibility to key metrics, make timely decisions, and move forward with intent.
To shift the business back toward intentionality, we started dedicating time for the leadership team to engage in strategic planning and deep thinking. We held a meeting offsite to reset the company’s purpose and define key elements of its business strategy. Next, we implemented quarterly cross- functional reviews to keep focus on long-term priorities and encouraged individual leaders to block time each week for reflection and forward-looking planning. With those elements in place, the company was able to not only reignite its growth but also did a better job at managing the daily challenges that previously consumed so much of its focus.
What you can do: Be intentional and disciplined with how you spend your time. Block space in your calendar for deep thinking. Revisit your strategies with your leadership team. Assess what’s working and what isn’t.
Get Started Now As Jim Collins, business researcher
and keynote speaker for the 2025 FEDA Annual Executive Leadership Conference, writes in his best-selling book Good to Great, “Greatness is not a function of circumstance. Greatness, it turns out, is largely a matter of conscious choice.”
As you consider your business and these five common growth constraints,
ask yourself and your leadership team the following questions:
• Have we clearly identified our key constraints to growth?
• Are our strategies defined, shared and understood?
• Is our digital maturity enabling or hindering growth? • Do we have real-time access to our key metrics?
• Are we making decisions quickly enough to seize opportunities?
• Are we intentionally spending time on what drives the business forward? If you’re not seeing growth, it’s time to be intentional about the constraints holding your company back. The businesses that see higher growth are the ones that create proper growth strategies, increase their digital maturity, gain real-time visibility to key metrics, make timely decisions, and move forward with intent. What’s your next move?
About the Author Jeff Andrews is the founder and principal of Red Dog Advisors, a growth advisory firm with a strong focus on ERP and CRM solutions. He’s held leadership roles and led growth at companies of all sizes, including Fidelity Investments, Paycor and Velosio. Andrews can be reached at
jeff@reddogadvisors.com. Learn more at
reddogadvisors.com.
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