The agency had grown from 12 to 35 employees in 18 months, driven by strong client demand and word-of-mouth referrals. However, the organizational structure had not evolved with the growth. The founder was still the primary decision-maker on everything from client strategy to HR issues, creating a bottleneck that slowed delivery and prevented the leadership team from operating independently. Account managers were unclear about their authority, projects were falling through the cracks, and the team was working long hours just to keep up. The founder recognized that without structural change, growth would stall and key people would burn out. The business needed an organizational model that could scale beyond the founder's capacity.
Stone Capital Partners conducted a comprehensive organizational design engagement over three months:
- Mapped current workflows, decision rights, and communication patterns to identify bottlenecks and redundancies
- Interviewed team members at all levels to understand role confusion and capability gaps
- Designed a new structure with clear departmental leadership for Client Services, Creative, and Operations
- Created role definitions with explicit decision-making authority and escalation paths
- Identified internal talent ready for promotion and external hiring needs for critical leadership gaps
- Coached newly promoted leaders on delegation, team management, and holding accountability
- Implemented a leadership meeting rhythm and project management system that reduced founder involvement in day-to-day operations
The redesign transformed how the business operated. The founder reduced direct involvement in client work by 60%, freeing time to focus on business development and strategic partnerships. Three high-performing employees were promoted into leadership roles, improving retention and creating visible career paths for the rest of the team. Project delivery timelines improved by 25%, and client satisfaction scores increased as account managers gained clearer authority to make decisions. Most importantly, the agency was structurally ready to scale. Within six months post-redesign, the company successfully opened a second office in an adjacent market without overwhelming the leadership team or sacrificing quality.
