How the founder of a mental health app created strategic clarity after 6 years of reactive growth.
The Potential
Tessa founded a mental health app that uses mentoring to
support people recovering from eating disorders and body image challenges. She
launched the business in 2020 with limited investment and grew it into a team
of six people. Now in its sixth year, the company is on a mission to support
1,200 people.
However, Tessa was exhausted. She was managing board expectations, overseeing a
small operational team, and acting as the company’s main revenue generator -
all while buried in administrative work. The business had become reactive.
Growth was slowing, execution had stalled, and the team lacked alignment.
Without intervention, the business risked collapsing under the pressure.
Tessa shared her strategic documentation with Chrisand
after reviewing everything, they spent the morning identifying where key
decisions had been delayed and how to move the business forward.
That conversation led to a bigger realisation: the
leadership team needed alignment.
The
Upliftin6 Approach
Chris spoke with both the board and operational teams before facilitating a
strategy day just outside Northwest London for the senior leadership team which
focused on:
- Identifying current business limitations.
- Clarifying what needed to change.
- Aligning leadership around priorities.
- Creating a clear vision and mission.
- Translating that vision into strategic objectives.
- Building an annual implementation plan.
By the end of the day, the business had moved from overwhelm to clarity.
The Impact
Following the strategy day, Upliftin6 documented every key
decision and commitment made. The business now has:
- A clearly defined strategic direction.
- Measurable milestones (OKRs).
- A practical implementation roadmap.
- Greater leadership alignment.
What had taken six years to build, now has the clarity and alignment needed to
scale its impact.
If you’re constantly firefighting, being pulled in multiple directions, and
struggling to grow proactively, it may be time for a strategic reset.
“Great strategy session. Chris worked exceptionally well with all members of the team. It was important for us to develop a shared understanding of our starting point, and the tools he used helped us reach consensus quickly. We ended the day with clarity for the next 12 months and beyond — along with action plans we urgently needed.”
Been There, Board of Trustees
How a £10M business improved communication and unlocked better performance.
The Potential
David built a fast-growing business over four years, scaling quickly through strong operational systems and outsourced support. Around 80% of the operational team was based in the Philippines, allowing the business to grow efficiently.
As the company expanded, high performers were promoted into senior leadership roles and the business quickly shifted from a flat structure to a more hierarchical one. The company was now at 46 staff, generating approximately £10 million in revenue, with teams consistently hitting incentive targets.
However, the company’s incentive structure had unintentionally created a culture of quantity over quality. Teams became increasingly siloed and focused on hitting bonuses rather than delivering customer value.
For example:
- Client service teams prioritised volume over client experience.
- Prospectors overlooked key qualification criteria.
- Sales teams signed clients who weren’t properly vetted.
- Operational teams were forced into reactive firefighting.
The
Upliftin6 Approach
We worked closely with the senior leadership team to identify where
communication breakdowns were occurring.
This helped clarify:
- What needed to happen at each stage.
- Which teams needed to communicate.
- Where accountability was being lost.
And then ran three core projects:
- Project Value (redesign
engagement points to improve customer value)
- Project Unity (help the leadership
introduce clearer communication systems across departments), and
- Project Culture (embedding
values and behaviours in individual performance assessments).
The Impact
Within a month:
- Teams were no longer operating in silos.
- Communication improved across departments.
- Customer complaints dropped significantly.
- Sales teams began converting higher-quality prospects.
- Revenue performance improved through stronger qualification processes.
The business moved from fragmented growth to more sustainable scaling.
If your teams are growing faster than your systems can handle, it may be
time to realign how your business communicates and operates.
"What has always impressed me with Chris is he knows exactly the right question to ask at the right time. His sensitivity and ability to see what really matters is what he brings to the table. I've worked with a large number of facilitators in all sorts of businesses over my 20+ years and I can honestly say Chris is up there with the best!"
David Denholm, Founder, Edwin James IP
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