Case Study: A growing business, increased complexity and a feeling that things weren’t working like they use too.

One of the biggest challenges facing growing small businesses is that success often creates complexity. What worked when there were three or four employees can quickly become difficult to manage when the business reaches ten, fifteen or twenty people. Roles evolve organically, responsibilities are added as new opportunities emerge, and highly capable employees often become the “go-to” people for solving problems across the organisation.

While this flexibility can be a significant strength, it can also create inefficiencies, increase workload pressure and make further growth difficult. Recently, Ascent People Insights partnered with a growing Ballarat business experiencing exactly these challenges. Through a structured approach that focussed on gaining insight and understanding, we helped the organisation redesign its structure and clarify roles to better support future growth and performance while removing everyday friction those highly capable team members.

The Warning Signs of a Business That Has Outgrown Its Structure

Many growing businesses experience similar symptoms:

• Employees wearing multiple hats.

• Unclear role boundaries.

• Work that depends on specific individuals.

• Constant interruptions and reactive problem-solving.

• Confusion around ownership and accountability.

• Leaders spending more time sorting through misalignment and low level confusion issues rather than focusing on doing great work.

In this specific case, consultation findings highlighted that employees across Sales, Operations, Administration and Delivery were frequently stepping outside their formal role responsibilities to help keep the business moving. While this created short-term flexibility, it also led to role creep, duplicated effort and increasing dependence on a small number of key people. We also found moments of inefficient all in collaboration for collaborations sake because everyone’s jobs felt like they overlapped.

The organisation had reached an important transition point: They had outgrown their current structure, operating model and roles and responsibilities – the reset was more straightforward than you would think.

Step 1: Understanding the Work, Not Just the Jobs

A common mistake in organisational redesign is focusing solely on job titles or organisational charts. Effective job design starts by understanding the work itself.

For this project, Ascent People Insights completed:

• A desktop review of existing position descriptions and organisational structures.

• Review of reporting relationships and workflow ownership.

• One-on-one consultation interviews with employees across the business.

• Analysis of workload, role clarity, autonomy, customer interactions, collaboration and operational challenges.

• Assessment of current roles using principles from the SMART Work Design Framework.

By examining how work was actually being completed, rather than simply how it was documented, we were able to identify where responsibility, decision-making and accountability had become blurred.

Step 2: Identifying Themes and Organisational Challenges

Following the consultation process, we completed a thematic analysis of the information gathered.

Five key themes emerged:

1. Role Creep and Blurred Boundaries

2. Reactive Work Practices

3. Dependence on Key Individuals

4. Workflow Ownership Gaps

5. Systems and Processes Were Struggling to Scale

Step 3: Designing an Operating Model (it is more than just a ‘restructure’)

Rather than simply rewriting position descriptions and moving roles around in the ‘new structure’, the review focused on redesigning the operating model.

Working closely with the client, we mapped the work required to acquire customers, onboard them, fulfil orders, maintain relationships and support internal operations. This allowed us to design a future-state structure based on clear functional ownership rather than historical responsibilities.

The future-state structure was built around four core business functions:

Sales & Growth

Responsible for acquiring new customers, growing existing accounts and managing inbound sales opportunities.

Customer Solutions

A dedicated function responsible for customer onboarding, implementation, installations and training.

Business Operations

Responsible for purchasing, inventory management, warehousing, logistics and order fulfilment.

Business Services

Responsible for compliance, administration, finance, payroll and internal systems.

This redesign created much clearer ownership across the customer journey while reducing overlap between teams.

Step 4: Redesigning Roles Around Core Purpose

One of the most valuable outcomes of the review was the redesign of individual roles.

Instead of asking “what does this person currently do?”, we asked:

“What is the core purpose of this role, and what work should sit within it?”

For example:

• New business acquisition and customer retention were separated into distinct roles.

• Customer onboarding and implementation were consolidated into a dedicated role rather than being spread across multiple employees.

• Administrative and compliance activities were grouped into a Business Services function.

• Operational leadership was strengthened through a dedicated Head of Business Operations role.

• Clear progression pathways were created from operational positions into broader leadership roles.

The result was a collection of roles with clearer purpose, better alignment and more sustainable workloads.

Step 5: Creating Alignment and Buy-In

One of the most important aspects of any Org wide review like this is involving employees in the process.

Throughout this project, consultation feedback was used to shape recommendations and test assumptions. Employees were able to provide practical insight into where responsibilities overlapped, where bottlenecks existed and what was preventing them from being most effective.

This collaborative approach ensured the final structure reflected the reality of how work was completed while still supporting the organisation's long-term objectives. The final recommendations were endorsed by the client because they were grounded in both business needs and employee experience.

The Result

The project ultimately repositioned the organisation from a structure built around individual capability and flexibility to one built around:

• Clear accountabilities.

• Defined handovers.

• Functional ownership.

• Scalable systems.

• Leadership accountability.

Most importantly, the redesigned structure supported the business's strategic goal of reducing dependence on the founder and enabling leaders to take ownership of day-to-day execution. This allows senior leadership to focus more on strategy, growth, innovation and major customer relationships rather than operational firefighting.

Final Thoughts

For many small businesses, growth does not create problems because employees lack capability. It creates problems because the structure, systems and roles that once worked no longer fit the organisation's size and complexity.

A structured Org Wide Review like this provides an opportunity to step back, understand how work is really being completed and intentionally design roles, workflows and reporting relationships for the next stage of growth.

When done well, this process creates clarity, improves accountability, reduces inefficiencies and helps ensure the business can continue to grow without relying on individual effort alone. For growing businesses, it is often one of the highest-impact investments they can make in their future success.