Common Growth Mistakes and How to Avoid Them
Growth is one of the most exciting phases for any organization. Whether you’re running a nonprofit, a social enterprise, or a for-profit business. It can mean reaching more people, making a bigger impact, and seeing your vision come to life in ways you once only imagined.
But growth isn’t just about adding more programs, clients, or revenue. It also comes with complexity, growing pains, and a need for stronger infrastructure. Many leaders are surprised when what worked in the past no longer works at a larger scale. Without the right systems and strategies in place, growth can create more chaos than progress.
Below are some of the most common mistakes I see organizations make during a growth phase, along with practical ways to avoid them.
1. Expanding Without thinking it through
The challenge:
Growth often feels urgent, especially when opportunities are coming at you from all directions (or perhaps, things aren’t going the way they should be). It can be tempting to take on every new partnership, launch multiple programs back-to-back, or rapidly expand your service area. But without proper preparation, this can overwhelm your team, strain resources, and lead to burnout.
Real-world example:
I once worked with a program that changed models multiple times in a single year. The excitement was high, but they didn’t have clear processes for onboarding the model, tracking project progress, or communicating with community members about the changes. Within months, deadlines were being missed, engagement was dropping, and the leadership team was stuck troubleshooting instead of leading.
How to avoid it:
Grow in phases, not leaps. Test new initiatives on a small scale before rolling them out widely.
Make sure each new service or product has a dedicated process, owner, and set of metrics before launch.
Build capacity, both people and systems, before you commit to additional growth.
When growth is intentional and measured, you avoid overstretching your organization and protect the quality of your work. Thinking things through and making realistic changes can make the difference between positive growth and confusion.
2. Neglecting Operations
The challenge:
It’s easy to focus on outward-facing wins, fundraising, client success stories, public recognition, while the back-end structure (and morale) lags behind. But operations are the invisible framework that keeps everything running smoothly. Without them, inefficiencies multiply, small issues snowball, and even simple projects take longer than they should. People who feel heard and supported are positioned to be successful in their roles.
Real-world example:
A community-based organization I partnered with had incredible outreach results but struggled internally. Every event required reinventing the wheel, emails had to be written from scratch, supply lists were scattered in personal notebooks, and no one knew where to find … well, anything. The result? Constant last-minute scrambling and wasted hours that could have been spent engaging the community.
How to avoid it:
Spend time realistically assessing the teams’ strengths, weaknesses and needs.
Invest in strong documentation: Mindful SOPs, checklists, and templates save time and reduce errors. Effort to ensure understanding through proper materials shows the team that you care about the ease in their experience, along with KPIs.
Create centralized storage for important files, contact lists, and project plans. Ensure that any accessibility needs are met.
Assign operational leads to oversee workflows and ensure consistency. Invite team members to openly share their experiences.
Operational excellence is the foundation for sustainable growth. When operations are accessible and employees feel truly seen, organizations unlock not just efficiency, but the building blocks for growth and lasting success.
3. Overcomplicating Systems
The challenge:
When an organization grows, the instinct is often to add more, more tools, more platforms, more approval steps. While the intention is good, too much complexity slows everything down. If your team has to click through six different programs just to complete a single task, you’ve created bottlenecks instead of solutions.
Real-world example:
A business I worked with introduced a new system every quarter to “solve” a different pain point. Inventory management, scheduling, communication, task tracking. Instead of improving things, staff spent more time learning how to use the tools than doing the actual work. Frustrations increased, and productivity dropped.
How to avoid it:
Audit your current tools and eliminate redundancies.
Choose systems that integrate well with each other and your existing workflows.
Prioritize simplicity—if a process can be done in three steps, don’t make it ten.
Ask your team what they don’t like. It sounds simple, but its a step often missed.
Streamlined and accessible systems make it easier for your team to focus on what matters most: delivering value and impact.
4. Failing to Align Teams
The challenge:
As an organization goes into a patnership, so does its team. Both in size and diversity of roles. Without intentional alignment, people may start working in silos, duplicating efforts, or moving in different directions. Even small misalignments can cause big problems over time, especially when multiple departments or partners are involved.
Real-world example:
I consulted for a nonprofit with an incredible mission but disconnected internal communication. The team didn’t know what the marketing team was promoting, and the fundraising team was unaware of program timelines. This created conflicting messages and inconsistent experiences for the people they served.
How to avoid it:
Start with a basic structure and work out as needed.
Establish regular cross-department check-ins to ensure everyone is on the same page.
Document and share organization-wide goals so every team understands how their work connects.
Use shared dashboards or progress trackers for transparency.
When your team is aligned, you create a stronger, more unified presence, both internally and externally.
