Let's start with growth.

I’ve had the privilege of working in the business world for many years, specifically focusing on company growth, building trust and strengthening partnerships -  all incredibly important when running your own global business as I did for nearly 20 years. While I still believe I can offer valuable insights, my decision to start Bloom Advisory goes beyond personal success or financial gain. It comes from a deep love for business itself and a desire to see the UK become a stronger player in the global economy.

Like many of you, for me business isn’t just about profit: it’s about building something that contributes positively to society. Business is there as a foundation for us all to benefit from and every business should have a chance to reach its maximum potential. I want the UK to be one of the best places in the world to do business – ethically and sustainably and with profits in mind.

So what holds growth back in a business?

Many things of course, but the area I want to focus on is how relationships both internal and external are so vital to a successful business.

The hidden growth engine

When we discuss business growth, the conversation typically gravitates toward metrics, strategies and market opportunities. We analyse revenue projections, marketing funnels, and competitive advantages. While these elements are undeniably important, they often overshadow a fundamental truth: businesses are, at their core, relationship networks.

The quality of these relationships - between team members, with clients, suppliers, investors, and the broader community, can either propel a business forward or create invisible barriers to growth that no strategy document can overcome.

Internal relationships: The foundation of execution

The relationships within your organisation determine how effectively your business can execute its vision. Consider these common relationship breakdowns that stifle growth:

1. Siloed teams: When departments operate in isolation, communication suffers, and opportunities are missed. Marketing doesn't understand product limitations; sales makes promises operations can't fulfil; leadership loses touch with frontline realities.

2. Trust deficits: In environments where trust is lacking, energy gets diverted to politics, self-protection and information hoarding rather than innovation and problem-solving. Negative conflict starts.

3. Misaligned incentives: When different teams have conflicting success metrics, they optimise for their own goals at the expense of overall business outcomes.

The most innovative strategy is worthless if your team can't execute it collaboratively. Companies with strong internal relationships benefit from:

• Faster decision-making with fewer meetings and approvals.

• Greater innovation and collaboration as diverse perspectives are freely shared without fear.

• Increased resilience during challenges as people support each other.

• Higher retention of institutional knowledge and talented staff.

  
  

External relationships: Frictionless growth

While internal relationships enable execution, external relationships determine your growth ceiling:

1. Client relationships: Beyond transactions, genuine connections with clients provide invaluable feedback, create brand advocates and increase lifetime value. Companies that view client relationships as partnerships rather than transactions unlock new growth avenues through co-creation and referrals.

2. Supplier partnerships: When suppliers are treated as valued partners rather than interchangeable vendors, they become extensions of your team—prioritising your orders, sharing industry insights and finding creative solutions during supply challenges.

3. Industry networks: Relationships with peers, even competitors, create opportunities for collaboration, resource sharing and market expansion that wouldn't be possible in isolation.

4. Community engagement: Meaningful relationships with the communities you serve and the ecosystems you are part of build brand equity, attract talent and create resilience during economic downturns or crises.

The relationship audit: Identifying growth barriers

To determine if relationship issues are holding your business back, consider these questions:

• How frequently do cross-functional projects miss deadlines or deliver disappointing results?

• Do team members freely share information and ask for help, or is knowledge hoarded?

• What percentage of your clients would genuinely miss you if you disappeared tomorrow?

• Do you have suppliers who go above and beyond contract requirements to support your success?

• How strong are your connections to adjacent industries that might offer partnership opportunities?

At Symbioss we have created a questionnaire covering 30 of these powerful questions to enable honest and open discussion. Completion enables a health check as to how strong your internal and external relationships are. Let us know if you would like a copy.

Building a relationship-centred business

Once you know how strong your relationships are, you can start to create a business where relationships become a competitive advantage. This requires effort of course but as you will see from some of Symbioss’s other blogs, the impact can be significant and can change the trajectory of your business (for the better!). Ideas include:

Internal

1. Prioritising relationship skills: Hire and promote for emotional intelligence and relationship-building capabilities, not just technical expertise.

2. Measure what matters: Track relationship health metrics like trust scores, collaboration indices and relationship value alongside traditional business metrics.

3. Encourage honest and open conversations: Have systems in place to support real dialogues – don’t let micro-conflicts exist – they cause so much harm. Always be open, you don’t have all the answers and you want to lead a team that feels they can contribute.

4. Invest in the team: Help your company to build genuine connections by investing in team activities at all levels.

5. Systems: Have systems in place to support honest conversations, including mediators who – if the conversation goes wrong – can step in to quickly resolve internal issues.

   
   

External

1.       Know where you stand: Map out your ecosystem so you know who is in your community. 

2.       Strategic relationships: Think about your strategy and make sure you are prioritising the stakeholders who are key to deliver that strategy. Create a list of top stakeholders.

3.       Communicate effectively: Raise the levels of engagement with these important stakeholders in multiple ways and at different levels.

4.       Partnership preparation: Target stakeholders who are key for you and develop deep relationships at a strategic level with these stakeholders.

5.       Lapsed relationships: Don’t just look at current relationships, Invest in those relationships that whilst lapsed could deliver significant value to you.

The bottom line

In a world where technical advantages are quickly copied and business models are easily replicated, the web of relationships you build becomes your most sustainable competitive advantage. The businesses that thrive long-term aren't just the ones with the best products or the cleverest strategies—they're the ones that have mastered the art of human connection.

When we strip everything else away, business growth comes down to people choosing to work with, buy from and advocate for other people they trust and value. By making relationships central to your growth strategy, you remove invisible barriers and unlock potential that no amount of optimisation or technological innovation alone could achieve.

Connect with Symbioss

Thank you for reading! At Symbioss, we transform external business relationships into powerful growth drivers through commercial expertise and strategic alignment producing frictionless growth.

Ready to unlock the full potential of your business relationships?

• Complete the contact us form for a consultation to discuss your specific interests

• Email me directly at liz@symbioss.co.uk with any questions

• Connect with me on LinkedIn for regular insights on relationship-driven growth, Liz Ashton MBA CIM | LinkedIn

Remember, stronger relationships create sustainable competitive advantage. Let's build yours together and begin your frictionless growth journey.

Liz Ashton

Founder & Director, Symbioss

This blog post is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice.