You can’t just budget for growth and expect it to come. Growth isn’t a line item you can simply plan for.   You need to know your fundamental business drivers and work tirelessly on them.

Having the right business behaviours and fundamentals will help you hit your growth targets.  Here’s what you need to focus on:

1. Understand What Truly Drives Your Business

Every business has core drivers—those key elements that make everything else tick. Whether it’s your customer relationships, the quality of your product, or how efficiently you run operations, you need to know what these are for your business. If you’re not crystal clear on these drivers, then all the budgeting in the world won’t get you where you want to go.

2. Get the Right Behaviours in Place

Growth isn’t just about dollars and cents—it’s about people. If your team isn’t aligned, engaged, and motivated to hit those growth targets, you’re going to struggle. Building a culture where everyone is on the same page, understands the bigger picture, and knows how their work contributes to success is critical. Growth happens when the whole team is moving in the same direction.

3. Execution Over Planning

You can have the best budget, the smartest strategy, but if you’re not executing consistently, it’s all for nothing. Growth comes from action—consistent, strategic action. Focus on the fundamentals: maintain strong customer relationships, keep innovating, and make sure your operations are running like a well-oiled machine. Regularly check-in, measure progress, and be ready to adapt when needed.

4. Measure What Moves the Needle

Numbers matter, but make sure you’re tracking the ones that really count. Financials are important, but they’re just one piece of the puzzle. Focus on metrics that directly relate to your core business drivers—like customer satisfaction, employee engagement, and operational efficiency. These are the indicators that tell you if you’re on the right track.

Budgeting for growth is essential and is the start.  Without a strong grasp of your business fundamentals and the right behaviours in place, hitting those growth targets will be a tough climb. Dig deep into what drives your business, get your team aligned, and execute with discipline. Do that, and growth will be what you achieve.

Andrew Crealy, Managing Partner, FifthEagle