Why Organisation Health Matters: Lessons from UK Scale Ups
In today’s challenging environment for scale ups, organisational health is anything but a luxury - it’s a necessity. Indeed, McKinsey recently stated it was the strongest predictor of value creation & a critical factor in sustained competitive advantage. Recent news from the UK highlights the pitfalls faced by promising scale-ups that overlooked this critical factor in their drive to expand.
Current examples of organisational health impacts
Take the cases of Revolut and Monzo, two high-profile fintech companies that have experienced rapid growth but have faced challenges related to company culture and internal management. While their revenue growth continues, these issues have impacted performance, recruitment and retention. Their struggles underscore a broader trend: scaling up quickly without also fortifying organisational health can lead to turbulence and longer term issues.
What is Organisational Health?
While McKinsey focuses on organisational health as “how leaders run the place”, for Scalewell, it is as much about the alignment of strategy and organisational elements.
Organisation health is ability of an organisation to realise its purpose by sustainably growing, changing and performing while maintaining a positive work culture. It is rooted in aligning the right combination of culture, leadership and organisation capabilities to strategy - and being able to adjust these effectively as strategy and contexts evolve
According to recent reports, both Revolut and Monzo have faced criticism for their high-pressure work environments and internal discontent. While these companies have disrupted the financial industry with their innovative services, their internal challenges illustrate why maintaining team alignment and a supportive culture is critical for sustainable growth.
How should Scale Ups address Organisational Health?
A survey among UK tech firms revealed that companies that invested in a strong culture and prioritising team alignment showed greater resilience during market shifts. Maintaining alignment is a continual process - requiring data, decisions and development.
Scalewell’s “Fitness to Scale” model offers leaders data-backed insights to ensure their growth strategies enhance not just profitability, but long-term health and stability. In dynamic sectors like Fintech, the real key isn’t just scaling up; it’s scaling well and sustainably.
Is your company poised for healthy, sustainable growth? With Scalewell, you can discover how to assess your Health - and how investing in organizational health can give you a competitive edge.
You can book a meeting for a first discussion with us here.
