Growth feels great right up until it doesn’t. You land a burst of new work, the calendar fills, and suddenly your once-tight culture starts to fray. At the recent Growth Club Summit by The Firm, Jason Robinson (Future Advisory) and Rebecca Mihalic (Business Depot) opened their playbooks on keeping teams healthy while revenue soars. Their message was clear. Rapid expansion magnifies every people issue. A panic hire, a silent Slack lurker, one toxic client. Each crack widens fast.
This post turns their hard-won lessons into a practical guide you can use straight away. You’ll learn why deliberate hiring beats knee-jerk recruiting, how clear non-negotiables protect morale, and which metrics turn capacity and quality into a shared game.
“Our team are more important than a few dollars from a bad client.”- Jason Robinson
Hire Slowly, Exit Decisively
Nothing drains a growing practice faster than the wrong person on payroll. Mihalic confessed she once “kept vacancies until the right fit appeared”, then clung to poor performers out of fear. The fix is counter-intuitive. Accept short-term discomfort to protect long-term health.
Spot the Panic-Hire Trap
• Urgent work lands, you post a rushed job ad
• Shortlist shrinks, you lower the bar “just this once”
• Onboarding limps, the new starter flails, senior staff pick up slack
• Morale dips, high performers wonder why standards slipped
Break the loop by tracking capacity instead of headcount. Robinson aims for no more than 70% forward-booked hours. That buffer gives Future Advisory time to vet candidates properly, or to say “not yet” and push deadlines.
“I’m my own worst enemy. Keeping the wrong person drags the whole team down.”- Rebecca Mihalic
Action Shortcuts
• Hold the vacancy. Interview until values click and skills match
• Run 30, 60, 90-day reviews with quit-or-commit checkpoints
• If doubts linger, exit fast. Your A-players will thank you
Culture Lives in Non-Negotiables
Both firms use a simple test. No dickheads, staff or clients. That line in the sand sets tone, protects energy, and proves leadership backs the team.
Codify the Rules
Non-negotiable:
Why it matters
How to enforce
Care & trust:
Staff need psychological safety
Praise peer support publicly
Collaboration:
Silos kill advisory work
Shared pod targets beat solo KPIs
No abuse:
A single rude client poisons Slack
Empower any team member to draft an exit email
When a prospect only wants “to save tax” or badgers juniors at 10 p.m., Mihalic’s crew sends a polite goodbye. The revenue hit stings for a moment. The cultural boost lasts years.
“Our juniors know they can walk away from an abusive client. No approvals needed.”- Rebecca Mihalic
Communication: Rules, Not Hunches
Slack can be a nerve centre or a noise factory. Robinson’s team laid down clear conventions:
• Named channels for each pod and project
• @tag only when a reply is genuinely needed
• 24-hour response expectation, no one waits in limbo
• Monthly usage audit. 700+ daily messages is an over-posting flag, zero messages suggests disengagement
Threads keep chatter tidy. Scheduled messages respect time zones. New hires get a half-hour Slack boot camp on day one, because tools only help when everyone plays by the same handbook.
Turn Capacity & Quality into a Game
Numbers motivate accountants when they’re visible. Both firms use Dashboard Insights to link timesheets, WIP and targets in real time.
• Individual view: daily budget vs actual hours
• Pod view: live recovery rate, write-offs, job ageing
• Firm view: forward-booked capacity and quality score
Transparency sparks friendly rivalry and shows dips early. When quality slides, leaders pause new work, audit causes, then deploy tech or training before cracks widen.
“When staff can see the cogs turning, they own the result and the quality lifts.”- Jason Robinson
Leaders Set the Weather
Your mood shapes the room. Robinson admits a stressed arrival can sink energy for the day. Mihalic relies on partners who check her when tension shows. Regular forums, weekly WIP huddles, monthly town halls, quarterly retros, give space to share wins, pressures and learning pathways.
Keep Yourself Honest
• Rotate chairing duties so no one voice dominates
• Ask peers to flag blind spots privately
• Celebrate small wins, especially during deadline months
• Model turning Slack off after hours
A calm, transparent partner makes it safe for others to speak up and safe to log off.
Next-Quarter Checklist
• Audit capacity. Aim for 70% booked hours or less. If you’re higher, shift deadlines or outsource before hiring.
• Write a no-go list. Document behaviours, staff or client, that trigger swift exit. Share it firm-wide.
• Tidy Slack. Rationalise channels, teach tagging, set a 24-hour response rule, run a monthly usage report.
• Launch a live KPI dashboard. Display pods’ WIP and recovery in every stand-up.
• Run a culture retrospective each quarter. Invite every team member to propose one improvement to process, tech or workspace.
“Culture isn’t a poster on the wall. It’s who you hire, fire and promote, every single day.”
Final Thoughts
Growth does not have to come at the expense of culture. The firms that thrive are the ones that protect their people as fiercely as their profit. That means hiring with patience, setting non-negotiables that everyone can see, and making communication clear rather than chaotic. It also means leading with self-awareness, because the tone at the top always sets the weather.
Your firm’s culture will not survive on slogans or posters. It lives in the choices you make every day. Who you bring in, who you let go, how you communicate, and how you celebrate. Guard those moments, and you can scale with soul while keeping your team engaged, motivated, and proud to be part of the journey.
