Aube Coaching - Navigating the Tensions of Growing a Business

Both/And Thinking: Navigating the Tensions of Growing a Business

Running a business means making decisions every day but some of the hardest challenges founders

and business owners face aren't often problems with one right answer.

For example:

Do I push for growth or protect what we've already built?

Do I respond to what's urgent today or make time to think about where we're going next?

The temptation, particularly when we're busy or under pressure, is to choose one side but often we

need both.

In this practical and interactive session, Caroline Duffy & Rachel Doogue explore some of the

competing tensions that come with leading and growing a business and why becoming a stronger

leader isn't always about finding the right answer. Sometimes it's about getting better at holding two

important things at the same time.

Participants will explore the tensions already showing up in their own businesses and consider what

happens when they lean too heavily towards one side. For example, staying involved in

everything may give a founder control and confidence but over time it can create a bottleneck and

stop other people stepping up. Equally, stepping back too quickly can mean losing connection with

what's really happening.

Neither side is wrong. The skill is noticing when something that has served you well starts to work

against you and being able to move between the two.

Rather than a theoretical leadership model, the session uses real business situations, conversation

and a simple practical tool to help participants think differently about the challenges they are facing.

The aim is for people to leave not with another set of leadership rules, but with a more useful

question:

“What if this isn't something I have to choose between? What would it look like to get the best of

both?”

What participants will take away

Participants will:

 recognise some of the common tensions that come with leading and growing a

business: growth and stability, control and delegation, people and performance, today and

tomorrow, working in the business and working on the business

 identify the tensions that are most alive in their own business right now

 notice where they naturally tend to lean particularly when they're under pressure

 understand how a strength can become a limitation when they rely on it too heavily

 use a simple tool to explore both sides of a tension and find a better way forward

 leave with practical questions they can use when they next feel caught between two

competing demands