Leadership Advisory for Founders and Growing Businesses
The number of people starting businesses is at a record high, but unfortunately the failure rate is over 60% in the first three years. We work with owners and founders to understand and refine their overall strategy and where their long-term business ambitions are focused. We use the same 4 principles with SME’s slightly adapted and bespoke for the client.clients.
Strategic Review
SME’s are often built around the idea or vision of one founder or owner, starting and growing a business is an extremely hard, stressful and often lonely pursuit. We often help in shaping the long-term strategy for the business including potential exit or succession options for the founder.
Team Assessment
SME teams are often smaller and more diverse than larger entities, this means the assessment and understanding of the team is even more critical. We use the latest in psychometric testing to ensure the leader has the right fit of team around them to ensure their strategic aims can be achieved.
Support Systems
The stress levels of the leadership of an SME can be extremely high due to the more fragile nature of the business compared to larger entities. With smaller teams the risks of single points of failure are high. Often overlooked in smaller entities the health and well being of key team members is critical and our experts in this area often make a significant improvement in the areas of sleep, stress management, fitness and work life balance.
Skill Development
Smaller teams usually have more specific skill sets and can often benefit from the development of additional skills specific to the strategic aims of the business. It is key to understand the teams’ skills to ensure they are complimentary and where there are shortfalls plans for development are implemented.
We have extensive experience in understanding the challenges of building SME’s and the passion and commitment it takes from the owners and founders to be successful. We often find we can add an interesting perspective from outside of the business which can be difficult to see when you are consumed with the day-to-day performance.
Strategic advisory for founders and leadership teams. RSG helps growing businesses refine strategy, strengthen leadership teams and scale sustainably.
Helping Founders Turn Growing Businesses Into Scalable Organisations
Small and medium-sized enterprises are the engine of the UK economy.
They employ more than 16 million people and represent some of the most innovative and ambitious businesses in the country.
But building and scaling a business is rarely straightforward.
More people are starting businesses than ever before, yet over 60% of new ventures fail within their first three years.
Not because the founders lack passion or capability.
But because growing a business introduces challenges that most founders have never faced before:
- Scaling teams and leadership capability
- Moving from founder-led decision making to structured strategy
- Maintaining momentum whilst managing increasing complexity
At RSG Consulting, we work with founders and leadership teams to strengthen strategy, develop leadership capability, and build the structures required to grow a business sustainably.
Our Approach to Supporting Founders
Our work with founders and growing businesses is built around four key areas that determine whether a company successfully scales or struggles to move beyond its early growth stage.
Strategic Review
Many founders begin with a powerful idea or a clear vision from a founder.
But as the organisation grows, the strategy must evolve.
What worked during the early stages of the business often becomes less effective as teams expand, markets change, and new opportunities emerge.
We work closely with founders and leadership teams to refine their long-term strategic direction, including:
- defining clear growth priorities
- evaluating market opportunities
- strengthening operational delivery
- exploring succession or exit strategies where appropriate
For many founders, scaling a business can be an intense and sometimes isolating experience. Having an experienced external perspective can bring clarity to decisions that are difficult to make from inside the business.
Leadership Team Assessment
In smaller organisations, every individual within the leadership team has an outsized impact on performance.
A single misalignment in leadership capability or team dynamics can slow growth significantly.
Using advanced psychometric assessment and leadership profiling, we help founders understand the strengths, motivations, and behavioural tendencies of their leadership teams.
This allows us to identify:
- where leadership strengths can be leveraged
- where development is needed
- where team dynamics may be limiting performance
From this insight, we design targeted leadership development programmes that help founders build teams capable of delivering the organisation’s strategic ambitions.
Performance and Resilience Systems
The pressure on SME founders and leadership teams is often intense.
With smaller teams and limited redundancy in roles, the risk of burnout or performance fatigue is high.
Leadership teams in growing businesses often carry significant responsibility for strategy, operations, and execution simultaneously.
For this reason, our work also includes support in strengthening personal performance and resilience, focusing on areas such as:
- sleep and recovery
- stress management
- physical health and fitness
- sustainable working rhythms
Improving leadership resilience often leads to clearer thinking, stronger decision making, and improved organisational performance.
Leadership Skill Development
Growing businesses frequently reach stages where new leadership capabilities are required.
Founders who were once focused on product or technical expertise must evolve into organisational leaders.
Leadership teams must develop skills in areas such as:
- strategic decision making
- delegation and accountability
- organisational leadership
- team development
Through our advisory process, we identify the leadership capabilities required for the next stage of growth and create bespoke development programmes that help founders and leadership teams evolve alongside the business.
An External Perspective That Accelerates Growth
Founders often spend years immersed in the day-to-day demands of running their businesses.
Whilst this focus is necessary, it can sometimes make it difficult to step back and see the bigger strategic picture.
One of the most valuable contributions we bring is an experienced external perspective.
Having worked with leadership teams across a wide range of organisations, we help founders identify opportunities, challenges, and leadership dynamics that are often difficult to recognise from within the business itself.
Start the Conversation
If you are building a growing business and want to strengthen your leadership team, refine your strategy, or prepare for the next stage of growth, we would be pleased to talk.
Book a confidential strategy conversation where we can explore:
- The current challenges facing your business
- The opportunities ahead
- Practical ways to strengthen leadership and execution
No obligation. Just a focused conversation designed to help you move forward with clarity.
About Us
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The RSG team has been brought together to give world class expertise across a range of disciplines, this allows us to deliver integrated programs of development which effect real world results.