🚫 You don’t need more headcount. You need a better system

TL;DR

🚫 You don’t need more headcount. You need a better system

🧶 How strategic HR leaders unlock efficiency, not just headcount

❓ Your views on your organisational operating systems

This newsletter edition is brought to you by Waggle 💛

You don’t need more headcount. You need a better system

Your company cut 33% last year, you’re on a hiring freeze, and exits won’t be replaced. Now you’re keeping underperformers because losing anyone else feels unbearable.

This is exactly the trap too many start-up leaders fall into. And it’s the result of flawed logic: Growth spurt? Hire more people. Hit a downturn? Cut budget, keep the same people and expect them to do more.

Please read this aloud: People aren’t your problem—your systems are.

More work ≠ more people (nor the same people working harder)

Yes, people are the foundation of your business—but people operate inside a system, and that system makes or breaks their ability to succeed. Right now, you’re relying on people to hold everything together with brute force. That’s why even your strongest team members are stretched thin.

Think of your business like a restaurant kitchen. Your people are the chefs. No matter how good they are, they can’t cook faster if the kitchen is chaotic, supplies are disorganised, and no one knows who’s responsible for what. More chefs—or keeping the wrong ones—won’t fix the mess. What you need is a better kitchen system: clear workflows, the right tools, and a process that actually works.

When you don’t have systems, people become the system—and people don’t scale

Cutting headcount without fixing your operating systems is like removing half the kitchen staff but keeping the broken kitchen. Then, we expect the remaining chefs to magically deliver at the same speed. That’s how we burn people out, bury our best talent in operational chaos, and still miss our goals.

This is exactly why keeping poor performers “just to have bodies” backfires. They add to the noise and complexity, not the output. You don’t need more hands—you need better systems that allow the people you do have to perform at their best.

The fix? Reduce complexity. Build systems that scale.

In Newsletter #34, I said that if you’re serious about scaling, reducing complexity has to be a top 3 priority at the company level. In the section below, I’m introducing STEP UP OS™—the 5 critical operating systems every scaling start-up needs to get right.

This isn’t about HR processes. These are the business operating systems that keep your entire organisation running like a well-oiled machine, so your people can focus on delivering results—not firefighting and covering for broken processes.

If you want to fix the real problem—and stop clinging to poor performers just to survive—you don’t need more people. You need better systems.

How strategic HR leaders unlock efficiency, not just headcount

As a Systems Engineer turned Chief People Officer, I see organisations differently. Where others see people problems, I see systems failures.

Every day, people across your organisation (your systems) constantly interact to get work done. These interactions are either clear and purposeful or unnecessarily complex—and that clarity (or chaos) directly impacts speed, performance and ability to deliver.

To reduce complexity, you need to simplify these interactions and bring sharp clarity to the 5 critical operating systems (OS) that drive your business—this is your STEP UP OS™:

OS1: Accountability system

When ownership is unclear, things slip—or worse, they get done twice. Start-ups often resist “formalising” accountability, don’t want to appear ‘corporate’ or fear it will slow them down. But lack of accountability is what actually slows them down.

🔧Fix it with:

Result: People own their work, know what success looks like, and execute faster.

OS2: Decision-making system

As more leaders and teams join, decision ownership gets fuzzy. This leads to endless debates, stalled projects, and eventually, everything circling back to the founder. Whenever I see a team stuck in endless debate, my first question is always: “Whose decision is this?”

🔧Fix it with:

Result: Faster decisions, fewer founder bottlenecks and more empowered teams.

OS3: (Business) Performance system

Early on, gut feel works. At scale, it doesn’t. One start-up I worked with hired RevOps too late—leaving sales pipeline tracking to the founder’s gut. By the time they saw the gaps, it had already cost us valuable time and deals. So, you need data-driven insights to know what’s working and what’s not.

🔧Fix it with:

Result: Data-driven decision-making, better resource allocation, and more predictable scaling.

OS4: Communication system

As companies grow, communication gets messy fast. One start-up I worked with had company OKRs spread across Confluence, Google Docs, Asana, and Notion—just at the company level🤯. Each department had their own version too. 

Too many tools = too much noise = misaligned priorities and wasted effort.

At another, we made a clear call upfront: no duplicate tools and all up-to-date company-level info lived in one place – Confluence. Simple, clear, aligned.

🔧Fix it with:

Result: Teams stay aligned, reduce noise, and focus on execution.

OS5: Feedback system

Start-ups often assume people will just “figure it out” as they go. This leads to repeated mistakes, stagnation, and frustration.

🔧Fix it with:

Result: Continuous improvement across the org, faster learning cycles, and stronger execution.

If you’ve made it this far and you’re thinking, “OMG, there’s so much to fix! 😱”, take a breath—don’t panic. 😅

Start here:

1️⃣ Run a quick systems audit across all 5 operating systems.
2️⃣ Identify the one system causing the biggest friction on your speed right now.
3️⃣ Tackle one small fix—like introducing a clear decision-making framework—and build from there.

Then? Rinse and repeat.

Scaling isn’t about fixing everything at once—it’s about building the right systems, one step at a time. Start small, move fast, and watch how much easier execution becomes.

Need support to build your start-up to scale?

Here are 3 ways I can help you:

🔗 LinkedIn | 🌎 JooBee’s blog | 🤝 Work with me