When planning for the future of your business, it’s important to be aware of signs that your design firm is ready to make a critical transition. Recently, I was working with a client and her leadership team to help them envision and plan for the next phase; as we dug into their operation, it quickly became clear that they were exhibiting several signs that it was time for major changes.

Symptoms of the Root Cause

Take a moment to reflect on which current conditions are impacting you the most:

• You’re treading water—your revenue and profit are growing slowly, if at all.
• Every time you add a new project, your workload increases disproportionately.
• You mostly have a team of taskers, not managers or leaders. Instead of working proactively, they wait for others to tell them what to do.
• You have eight or more people on your team and they all report to you.
• You’re the bottleneck. Every major decision filters through you.
• You’re unable to take a real break without looking at your phone or email.
• You’re growing fast, and you’re barely keeping up with the “dailies” of operating your business. You’re heading toward burnout.
• You’re bringing in 100 percent of the work, and you’re leading most of the projects.
• The clients want you. They don’t trust your team.
• You’re ambitious and you want to build your empire. The dream jobs are coming in, and your team can’t keep up with the workload.
• You’re entering a new phase of your life, and you’re thinking about exiting sometime in the next three to five years.
• Your vision is blurred. You’re not sure where you want to go with your business, but the way it is operating isn’t fun or easy.

The Root Cause

The situations above are the symptoms of the root cause—and the reason you can’t see the forest for the trees.

To move forward on your path, you need a clear vision of where you want the business to go. Otherwise, the effort you put into addressing small-scale issues may improve the day-to-day, but it won’t move your firm in the direction you desire.

To solve big problems that are holding you back, you must first identify the root cause of these challenges, then map out a course-correction. For some, that will be best achieved by consulting with experts who can bring new perspectives; for others, it will mean working through these struggles by reflecting on the issue from different angles and with an open mind.

Here are 12 common leadership mentalities that can be the root cause of the problematic symptoms listed above:

• I am controlling.
• I’m a perfectionist.
• I’m afraid of letting go because I can do it better and faster.
• I’m a micromanager. I believe that if I don’t stay on top of everything, balls will drop.
• I don’t hold people accountable.
• I don’t know who to hire next, or if I can afford to hire right now (“What if we don’t have enough work?”).
• I don’t have systems and processes in place.
• I can’t take a break because things will fall apart.
• I am unclear about the future—where I want to go and how to get there.
• I’ve never been a leader before.
• I’m unsure about the finances of the business, or when I can afford to make investments.
• I don’t know what to fix first.

How Do You Get Unstuck?

As the leader of your firm, your current results come from your current knowledge, skills and leadership abilities. You need to uplevel all three of these to take your business to the next level.

Becoming self-aware is a lifelong quest for most of us. Our business is a direct reflection of our emotional maturity, knowledge and skills, and we are limited by our current level of thinking. Our ability to synthesize the complexities of managing, influencing and leading people, and to solve the right problems at the right time, is crucial to exponential business growth. If your business is not where you want to be, grow yourself first. If you want a shortcut, get help from experts.

What’s your vision for the future?

For more information on the state of the design industry today and how to position yourself for success, download the 2024 Interior Design Business Survey report, which is produced by Pearl Collective, Interior Talent and Business of Home.

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Gail Doby is co-founder of Pearl Collective (formerly Gail Doby Coaching & Consulting), an interior design business consultancy that helps designers, architects and other creatives increase their profitability. Doby ran her own design firm in Denver for nearly 20 years and has a degree in finance and banking. Since 2008, she has been helping designers scale their businesses profitably and reach financial freedom. As a coach, mentor and business transformation specialist, she shares innovative ways to overcome the roadblocks, challenges and detours creative entrepreneurs face. She is also the bestselling author of Business Breakthrough: Your Creative Value Blueprint to Get Paid What You’re Worth. Her goal is to empower design industry clients to differentiate themselves, drive measurable results, achieve business projections, and create personal satisfaction through game-changing strategies and business practices.