Industry: Consumer Goods Manufacturing

Company Stage: Founder Led, scaling SME

Location : Sri Lanka

Key outcome:

• 70% Less founder decision load

• Most decisions resolved without escalation

• 14-day absence, operations ran without disruption

Situation

The client is a founder-led consumer goods manufacturing business supplying both local and export markets.

As demand increased, execution became heavily dependent on the founder. Routine decisions around production planning, inventory purchases, pricing approvals, and sales follow-ups consistently escalated to one person.

This wasn’t a capability issue. The team was experienced.
The problem was structural: ownership and decision rights were unclear.

Over time, this showed up in familiar ways:

• Production and quality decisions paused while waiting for approval

• Inventory and purchasing managed through spreadsheets and memory

• Sales and distributor follow-ups becoming inconsistent

• No clear view of what was stuck or at risk

• Weekly meetings turning into long status updates instead of decisions

Work continued, but only through constant coordination. As the business grew, the founder increasingly became the integrator across functions — and the system.

What Was Installed

The work followed a simple sequence: clarity first, execution second, tools last.

• Clear ownership and decision rights

Ownership was clarified across core functions so it was unambiguous who owns outcomes. Decision rights were defined so the team knew what they could decide independently, what required escalation, and what needed structured input.

As a result, routine decisions stopped defaulting upward.

• Functional goals and growth initiatives

Each function was given clear goals and a small set of growth initiatives. This aligned day-to-day execution with commercial growth, operational reliability, and delivery performance — instead of reacting to urgency.

• Execution rhythm and issue resolution

A weekly execution rhythm was introduced with a focused scorecard, a disciplined agenda, and issues tracked to closure. Meetings shifted from updates to decisions. Problems stopped circulating and started getting resolved.

• Workflows, SOPs, and enablement

Critical workflows across sales, operations, and delivery were documented and standardised. SOPs and simple enablement assets equipped teams to execute consistently without relying on memory or founder follow-up.

This created a clear pathway for functional freedom — where each function could run, improve, and scale without the founder acting as coordinator.

• Tools aligned to process

Only after ownership and workflows were clear were tools aligned to support visibility and consistency. Technology reinforced the system rather than complicating it.

Results

• Founder decision load reduced by approximately 70%

• Most routine operational decisions resolved without escalation

• Sales and operations follow-ups became predictable and visible

• Core operations continued during a 14-day founder absence without disruption

  
  

What Changed

Execution no longer depended on constant founder involvement.

Functions operated with autonomy and accountability. Decisions moved faster. Issues were surfaced early and resolved through a consistent operating rhythm.

The founder shifted from coordinating execution to focusing on hiring, growth initiatives, and long-term direction — without losing control or visibility.

Why this broke at scale

As volume increased, the business didn’t break because of effort or talent. It broke because the structure hadn’t evolved.

When ownership and decision rights are unclear, growth pushes more decisions upward. Founders become the default system — coordinating work, approving routine calls, and keeping execution moving.

Installing clear ownership, decision rules, and an execution rhythm allowed the business to absorb growth without increasing founder involvement or operational risk.