What is Subtopia?
I was listening to the radio the other day, and they were talking about the idea of subtopia. In urban planning, it describes places that have grown without any real plan – bits added here and there, no thought to how it all fits together. They end up being messy, disconnected, and struggle to support the people who live there.
It made me think about how often that happens in business.
So many companies grow reactively – adding people, changing roles, tweaking structures – without stopping to look at the bigger picture. They hire without clarity, expect managers to figure things out on their own, and let culture develop by default rather than design.
This results in a workplace that feels chaotic, directionless, and ultimately struggles to sustain long-term success.
If you’re scaling fast but haven’t stepped back to think about your people – your structure, leadership, culture, and how it all supports the business – you might be building your own version of subtopia.
The signs of a subtopian business
Just like poorly planned urban spaces, a business suffering from subtopia has clear warning signs:
Unclear roles and responsibilities
Employees aren’t sure where their job ends and someone else’s begins. Without defined roles, people either overstep, wanting to be involved in everything or underperform, thinking it’s not theirs to pick up. This leads to inefficiencies, duplications, unhappy customers and, internal friction.
Leadership overload and the accidental manager problem
Leaders and managers were often promoted due to experience in their field, not because they were trained to manage people. This results in accidental managers who struggle with decision-making, delegation and direction, and providing support to their team. Over time, this ends up with bottlenecks, burnout, and teams who feel unsupported, holding the whole business back.
A culture that feels unstable or forced
If a company grows without thinking about how to maintain its values and culture, it either erodes entirely or becomes forced – where leadership dictates the “right” culture without it being organically lived out. Employees start disengaging because they don’t feel part of something meaningful. That disconnect spreads quickly. Morale drops, teams stop talking to each other, and people start going through the motions – or quietly looking for the exit.
Recruitment and retention issues
Hiring is rushed, onboarding barely scratches the surface (if it happens at all), and new starters are left to ‘hit the ground running’. People leave not because they can’t do the job, but because they never felt set up to succeed in the first place. This leads to a cycle where teams are constantly backfilling roles rather than developing talent.
No clear employee pathways
Without a plan for how employees grow within the business, motivation starts to dip. People don’t know what they’re working towards or how to progress. High performers move on to places where they can keep developing, and new starters struggle to find their feet because there’s no clear direction or sense of what’s next.
Hiring for ‘vibes’ over value
In the early stages, hiring decisions often come down to “Would I want to hang out with this person?” While likability is a factor, this kind of hiring often creates a team that all think the same, work the same, and often come from similar backgrounds.
Over time, this creates a homogenous environment where innovation stalls and blind spots go unchallenged. Diversity of thought, background, and experience is critical for growth. Businesses that scale successfully hire not just for culture fit, but for culture add – people who bring something new while aligning with the company’s purpose.
The impact of subtopia on a business
A lack of strategic planning doesn’t just create frustration – it actively damages business performance. Here’s how:
How to avoid business subtopia
Avoiding the chaos of unstructured growth doesn’t mean slowing down – it means growing with intention.
✅ Start with a people strategy
If you want to grow well, start with your people. Define what roles you actually need, what success looks like in those roles, and where the gaps are in your team structure. Consider how those needs will change as the business scales – what works at 10 people won’t work at 50. Think outside the box – would a fractional lead or contractor be an option?
Most importantly, don’t wait until things are on fire to work out how to keep your best people. Build in development, support, and clarity from the start.
✅ Clarify leadership and management
So many businesses rely on instinct and goodwill when it comes to managers. But being great at your job doesn’t mean you’re ready to lead others.
Make sure your managers know what’s expected of them – not just in terms of tasks, but in how they support people. Equip them with the tools to delegate, give feedback, manage conflict, and grow their teams. This isn’t a “nice to have” – it’s the foundation for sustainable growth.
And importantly – don’t expect them to lead and keep delivering the same workload they had before. Something has to give.
✅ Embed a culture that scales
Culture isn’t a few values stuck on a wall or something you revisit at the Christmas party. It’s how decisions are made. How people treat each other. What gets rewarded, challenged, ignored. How people are managed.
If you don’t actively embed it, it will evolve on its own – and not always in the direction you want. Start with your values and ask: how do these show up in our hiring, our team meetings, our communication, our decisions, our management? Let culture guide your growth, not lag behind it.
✅ Plan for sustainable growth
Scaling isn’t just about adding more people or bigger targets – it’s about designing the systems that support both.
That means onboarding that actually helps people settle in. Communication that keeps people aligned. Career paths that help retain your high performers. And regular check-ins – not just on work, but on how people are feeling and what they need to succeed.
Growth should feel energising, not exhausting.
✅ Build processes that grow with you
Your systems should be enablers, not blockers. One of the biggest risks during growth is relying either on no process at all – or on ones so rigid they restrict innovation.
You don’t need heavy bureaucracy. But you do need enough structure to guide people, create clarity, and keep things moving forward. The trick is designing a structure that flexes with you – the kind that gives support without pinning people down. The best systems evolve with your business. They should breathe.
Conclusion: Planning for the future
Businesses that scale successfully don’t leave their people strategy to chance. Just like urban planners map out sustainable, functional cities, companies need to think about how they structure, lead, and engage their people.
Avoiding business subtopia means:
👉🏼 Clear roles and pathways so employees can thrive.
👉🏼 Well-supported managers who can lead effectively.
👉🏼 A culture that grows with the business, not against it.
👉🏼 Sustainable growth that doesn’t sacrifice profitability.
👉🏼 Processes that support people – not slow them down.
👉🏼 Hiring with intention, valuing difference and future fit.
The choice is yours: grow with purpose, or let chaos take over.
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