When the formation breaks down

There's a particular kind of exhaustion that comes from working hard in the wrong system. You know the feeling. You're capable, experienced, and committed. But somehow, despite all of that, you're going nowhere fast.

I've been there. And it taught me something important about how organisations really work.

The Business That Looked Great on Paper

A few years ago, I joined a high-profile, fast-growing business. On the surface it was everything you'd want: polished, ambitious, modern. The kind of place that looked impressive from the outside and attracted talented people who wanted to build something meaningful.

Post-merger, it was trying hard to become a proper corporate entity. Hiring people like me who could build systems, professionalise processes, and create lasting structure. The intent was right. The reality was more complicated.

Because underneath all of that ambition, the organisation was still orbiting one powerful founder. And if your work didn't fit that founder's narrative, it didn't last. You could spend months developing a strategy, building the business case, bringing people with you, and then get a "no." Often without explanation.

That tension was exhausting. Not just professionally, but personally. Because when you've done this before, when you know what good looks like, being asked to execute rather than innovate wears you down in ways that are hard to describe to people who haven't experienced it.

Riding Into a Crosswind

It reminded me of a cycling phenomenon that every experienced rider knows well: the crosswind.

When a disciplined peloton hits a crosswind, something elegant happens. The riders rotate smoothly, shelter is shared, and the effort is distributed across the group. Everyone contributes. Everyone benefits. The formation holds.

But when one rider keeps surging, chasing the spotlight instead of maintaining the rhythm, everything changes. The formation fractures. Strong riders burn matches trying to compensate. People get dropped. What should have been collective efficiency becomes individual struggle.

We kept being blown off course. Not because the strategy was wrong, or because the people weren't capable. But because of the sustained influence of one person. One set of preferences. One gravitational pull that everything else had to orbit.

What Happens When It All Revolves Around One Person

This isn't just my story. It's one I hear repeatedly from senior leaders navigating similar environments.

When an organisation revolves around a single personality, a predictable set of problems emerges. Decision rights blur because everything ultimately flows back to one source. Capability-building becomes cosmetic, initiatives that look like investment in people are actually just window dressing if they don't serve the centre. Loyalty starts to matter more than performance, which is perhaps the most corrosive dynamic of all. And talented people start to feel interchangeable, because the system isn't really built around them.

Vision matters enormously. A founding vision can be the thing that gets an organisation off the ground and gives it energy in the early years. But sustainable performance comes from a system that works without one rider permanently on the front. The healthiest organisations share the load. They build structure that outlasts personality. They invest in people as long-term assets, not expendable energy.

It Might Not Be You

If you've ever felt like you were pedalling hard but making no real progress, I want you to sit with this question: is the problem actually you, or is it the formation?

Because there's a significant difference between a leader who needs to develop and a capable leader trapped in a system that isn't built to let them succeed. Coaching can help with both, but the starting point is being honest about which situation you're actually in.

In my experience, senior leaders are often too quick to internalise the dysfunction around them. They assume the problem is their approach, their skills, or their mindset, when actually the ground has been shifting beneath them in ways that would challenge anyone.

That's not an excuse. It's a diagnosis. And a diagnosis is always the starting point for change.

Building the Second Type of Organisation

I now choose to work with leaders who want to build something different. Leaders who understand that real performance comes from shared load, distributed capability, and structure that doesn't collapse when one person is out of the room.

If that's the kind of leader you want to be, or the kind of organisation you want to build, I'd love to have that conversation.

There's space in my peloton. Get in touch to find out more about how we could work together.