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The Challenge
The company wanted to scale—but first needed to understand what was holding them back
The company had ambitious growth goals: they wanted to 10x the business. They had already invested in improving how they operated, including adopting the Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS), implementing new software, improving workflows, and exploring how AI could become part of their daily work.
But there was a bigger question they hadn't fully answered: How mature are we today, and what would we need in place to successfully operate at a much larger scale?
They knew they had opportunities to improve, but they didn't have a consistent way to evaluate where they stood or determine what needed attention first.
They needed a baseline.
They knew they had opportunities to improve, but they didn't have a consistent way to evaluate where they stood.
The Assessment
Creating a shared framework for evaluating how the business operates today
I developed a business maturity framework that game each department a common way to evaluate its operational consistency.
I developed a business maturity framework that gave each department a common way to evaluate its processes, systems, communication, accountability, technology, and operational consistency. The assessment covered the entire organization, including Administrators, Finance, Firm-level operations, HR, IT, Marketing, Sales, and two Operations departments.
Rather than having one person decide how mature each department was, I designed the assessment so that people closest to the work could evaluate it themselves. Department directors and other managers with significant knowledge of each department's operations completed the assessment individually. Each department had two to four people providing their perspective, while the firm-level assessment was completed by the CEO and all directors.
Participants were given documentation explaining what each level of maturity looked like and what criteria would need to be met to move to the next stage. They evaluated each criterion and documented why they believed the department had—or had not—met it. This approach gave us multiple perspectives instead of relying on one person's perception of how well a department was operating.
I then collected the assessments, analyzed the results, identified common themes and gaps, and created a detailed analysis for each department.
What We Found
The biggest opportunity wasn't reaching the next stage but creating capacity to get there
One of the most important findings was that the organization initially viewed itself as being further along than the assessment showed. When the teams first looked at the maturity stages, many believed they were operating around the middle to upper end of the model. Once they evaluated what would actually be required to advance, most departments landed closer to the beginning stages.
That wasn't a reflection of a bad business. It revealed how much opportunity existed to improve.
We also uncovered a significant amount of work happening "below the floor"—the mundane, repetitive, inconsistent work that consumed capacity and prevented teams from spending time building better systems.
Some processes technically existed, but they weren't consistently followed. Documentation existed, but employees often relied on asking someone else for help instead of using the documentation or taking ownership themselves. We also identified opportunities to reduce manual work through automation and make better use of existing technology.
The assessment revealed that the business didn't necessarily need more initiatives. Instead, it needed more capacity to successfully execute the initiatives it already had.
Turning Findings Into Action
Instead of chasing maturity levels, we focused on creating breathing room
One of the most important conversations came after the assessment.
We had started the project by asking: What would it take to reach the highest level of maturity? After seeing the results, I challenged that thinking with a different question: Can we realistically take on more initiatives while teams are already operating under significant capacity strain?
The answer changed our priorities. Rather than asking every department to immediately advance to the next maturity stage, I created department-level analyses that identified opportunities for immediate capacity relief.
The goal was to find changes that could:
Save time
Reduce rework
Prevent interruptions
Remove unnecessary decisions
Reduce exceptions
Simplify processes
Create capacity for higher-value work
I provided ideas for potential relief initiatives, but the departments ultimately selected what would have the greatest impact for their teams. Each department then incorporated a capacity-building initiative into its next-quarter goals.
The maturity model became a reference point rather than a checklist. It gave leadership and department teams a shared language for discussing how work should evolve, while allowing them to prioritize the changes that would have the greatest business impact.
I provided ideas for potential relief initiatives but the departments ultimately selected what would have the greatest impact for their teams and incorporated a capacity-building initative into their next-quarter goals.
The Result
The company now has a baseline, a shared language, and a way to measure progress
Maturity is about building the systems, processes, technology, and accountability needed to support the business you want to become.
The assessment gave leadership something they didn't have before: a clearer picture of how the organization actually operated across departments and where the biggest opportunities existed. Instead of relying on general perceptions like "we need better processes" or "we need to be more efficient," leadership could look at specific areas, discuss the gaps, and decide which improvements were worth prioritizing.
The company also gained a framework it could continue using after the initial assessment. They can periodically re-evaluate their maturity, use the model to identify areas they may not have considered, and use it as a source of ideas when setting goals.
Most importantly, advancement through the maturity model is not treated as the goal itself. The goal is to build a business that can scale without adding unnecessary complexity. As the company reduces friction, creates capacity, standardizes important work, and builds stronger systems, maturity should naturally increase.
Simplify first. Free up capacity. Then measure progress.
This project demonstrated that maturity isn't about making a business look more sophisticated by stating they're in a higher stage. It's about building the systems, processes, technology, and accountability needed to support the business you want to become.
Need help?
When a company is growing quickly, it can be difficult to see which parts of the business are actually ready to support that growth. Processes may work well enough today but still create unnecessary work, technology may be underused, and teams may be spending more time managing exceptions than improving how the work gets done.
I help businesses take a closer look at how they're operating today and identify where they have opportunities to improve. That can include evaluating processes, technology, communication, accountability, documentation, and the day-to-day work that takes up more time than it should.
If you're preparing for growth and want a clearer picture of where your business stands, I can help you assess your current operations and turn the findings into practical priorities for your team.
Where Does Your IT Stand?
Want a quick overview? Check out this infographic for a brief look at the 5 stages of business IT maturity.
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