Why Execution Slows as Firms Grow Past 75 Employees

Holly Hartman
Dec 15
3 min read

Updated: Dec 15

Most professional services firms don’t experience execution slowdown as a single event.

It creeps in.

Work that used to move quickly now requires an extra step.

Decisions that once happened informally now need alignment.Problems teams used to solve independently now escalate upward.

Nothing feels broken.

But everything feels heavier.

For managing partners, COOs, CFOs, and operations leaders in mid-size professional services firms, this is a familiar moment.

The Hidden Inflection Point

Around 75 employees, firms cross an invisible threshold.

Below this size, execution relies on proximity:

• shared context

• informal communication

• leadership visibility

• personal accountability

Above it, those same dynamics stop scaling.

Leaders often assume the slowdown is temporary—a natural side effect of growth.

In reality, it signals a structural shift.

The operating model that worked at 40 or 50 people no longer holds at 75+.

What Actually Changes at This Stage

Execution slows not because people get worse, but because coordination complexity increases faster than systems evolve.

At this stage, firms typically experience:

• more teams touching the same work

• more handoffs across practices or functions

• more decisions requiring cross-team input

• more unresolved issues landing with leadership

What was once handled implicitly now requires intentional design.

Without it, friction accumulates.

The Cost Leaders Don’t See Right Away

At 75+ employees, execution problems rarely present as failure. They present as inefficiency.

Leaders notice:

• rework creeping up

• decisions taking longer than expected

• escalations surfacing later

• strong people compensating for weak systems

Margins tighten, even when demand remains strong.

This isn’t a utilization issue.

It isn’t a talent issue.

It’s Collaboration Tax beginning to surface.

Collaboration Tax is the hidden cost organizations pay when work doesn’t flow cleanly across people and teams. It shows up as rework, delays, escalation, burnout, and reduced profitability.

At this stage of growth, that cost compounds quickly.

Why “More Communication” Doesn’t Fix It

The instinctive response is to add:

• more meetings

• more tools

• more approvals

• more check-ins

These actions create the appearance of control while increasing coordination load.

Execution slows further—not because people resist change, but because the system asks them to carry too much ambiguity.

Without clear decision rights, defined handoffs, and visible execution flow, effort increases while throughput declines.

The Shift Leaders Must Make

Once a firm passes 75 employees, execution can no longer depend on:

• memory

• informal alignment

• heroic leaders filling gaps

It must depend on operating systems.

That means:

• designing how decisions move

• clarifying accountability across teams

• making execution flow visible

• detecting friction early, before escalation

Firms that make this shift regain speed without increasing pressure.

Firms that don’t normalize slowdown as “the cost of growth.”

The Bottom Line

Execution doesn’t slow at 75+ employees because people stop caring.

It slows because systems haven’t caught up to scale.

For mid-size professional services firms, this is a defining moment.The organizations that protect margin and delivery reliability redesign how work moves.

Because once informal coordination stops working, execution becomes a system design problem.

And system problems don’t resolve themselves.

About the Author

Holly Hartman is the founder of CollabIntel Consulting Group, a firm specializing in reducing Collaboration Tax in mid-size professional services organizations. She works with senior executives and operations leaders to resolve the execution failures that erode margin and reduce overall profitability. Holly’s work focuses on strengthening the human, team, and execution systems behind reliable delivery—bringing clarity to the hidden dynamics that make execution feel harder than it should.

Next Steps for Your Organization

If execution feels heavier as your firm grows—if decisions slow, rework increases, or leadership is absorbing too much operational friction—those are system signals, not growing pains.

CollabIntel works with senior executives and operations leaders in mid-size professional services firms to diagnose where execution is breaking down and design operating systems that restore speed, clarity, and margin discipline.

If you want to explore whether your organization is experiencing Collaboration Tax, request an initial conversation.