Structure Without Suffocating Spirit

As I have watched Manchester United consistently drop in standards over the past decade, it has unfortunately also coincided with a period of almost total dominance by Manchester City. And as a Utd fan that understandably has made my own team’s struggles even harder to bear.

Whilst City did start winning trophies in the early 2010’s, it was only when Pep Guardiola took over as manager in 2016 that the real period of dominance began.  And whilst I have not enjoyed it, one thing I have begrudgingly always admired is how he has managed to get City playing with creativity and a methodical, well drilled system.  Every player knows exactly where to be, how to move, where to pass and when to press their opponents. Within that framework, creativity has flourished. The result: sometimes breathtaking, almost always winning football, built on complete discipline.

That balance between freedom and framework is exactly what growing businesses need. Too much control kills spirit. Too little turns into chaos. The art of scaling lies in designing systems that protect culture, not replace it.

Why does this balance matter?

We are currently completing a round of recruitment to bring two new roles into the business. Our small team is growing and I am determined to ensure that this growth does not bring chaos to customers and colleagues.  

Chaos doesn’t arrive because people stop caring; it’s because communication stops flowing naturally. Decisions take longer, standards slip, and founders feel like they’re holding the whole thing together with Sellotape and caffeine (or alcohol perhaps).

The solution is to add a process. However, a process without purpose simply creates red tape.  Red tape causes inefficiency and, eventually, resentment.

Structure only works when it gives people clarity and confidence.

Getting it wrong

The impact of not getting the structure and process right will be felt financially and culturally.

1. Financial:
   1. Time lost to miscommunication and duplication eats margin.
   2. Cash flow suffers as simple tasks become multi-step processes.
2. Culture:
   1. Over-engineering kills momentum and accountability.
   2. Burnout grows: in chaos from under-structure, and in frustration from over-structure.
   3. Founders lose the joy of leading, trapped between micromanagement and mayhem.

The CFO Lens

Systemise What’s Repeated (Not What’s Rare)

If something happens every month, document it. If it happens once a year, keep it flexible. Process should serve rhythm, not rule everything.  Use Loom to document as it can record the process in real time and save time in documenting it afterwards.

Get the Tech Stack that Clarifies, and Doesn’t Control

The goal is visibility, not surveillance. Use Xero for numbers, Asana or Notion for accountability, Slack for communication etc.

Assign Clear Ownership

Every single recurring task should have one name beside it. Then define who owns the review or signoff of the task and who gets informed if the task has dependencies on other tasks. Accountability drives calmness.  

Design With Culture in Mind

Before adding a new rule, simply ask: does this build trust or bureaucracy? Involve your team in helping design systems; co-designed systems are lived in systems.

Create Financial Cadence

Weekly cash check-ins, monthly reviews, quarterly planning. Predictability creates calm confidence; this is your financial version of gym training drills.

Example: Airbnb 

When Airbnb hit its first wave of explosive growth, the founders were terrified of turning into a bureaucracy. They’d gone from renting out spare rooms to managing a global platform in what felt like almost overnight. Suddenly, there were departments, layers of approval, and processes where there had once been late-night decisions over beer and pizza.  This led to early employees complaining that “It’s starting to feel corporate.”

The Airbnb leadership then did something smart. They didn’t reject systems; they redefined them. Airbnb built lightweight frameworks instead of heavy policies: shared values, transparent dashboards, and team autonomy wrapped around a clear set of financial guardrails.

The result? Global scale while protecting what made the company distinct: trust, creativity, and a sense of belonging.

Simple Actions for You to Get Moving

• Map One Process: Pick one recurring activity (onboarding, reporting, client handover). Write five bullet points that capture how it should work optimally.
• Kill One Pointless Process: Ask your team what slows them down. Remove one thing this month. Repeat next month.
• Share One Dashboard: A single page that shows key metrics everyone can see. Transparency builds trust faster than policy.
• Create a Rhythm: Weekly 15-minute team check-ins beat endless ad-hoc chats.

Celebrate Systems: When something works smoothly, shout about this as a win. Make efficiency cultural, not corporate.

Closing Thought

Every great team, in sport and business, needs rhythm, not rigidity.  The goal of structure isn’t to box people in. It’s to build a framework strong enough to hold creativity and confidence in place.  Systemise what matters, simplify what doesn’t, and keep your culture breathing.

That’s how you scale without chaos — and without losing your spark.

“Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence win championships.” Michael Jordan

PS: Next week, we’ll look at the personal side of scaling: how to spot when you’ve become your own growth bottleneck, and how to step out of the way gracefully.