We’re Adding Another Project?
“I’m confused,” Terry said.
She sat across from Janice, drumming her fingers on her leg and slightly furrowing her brow.
“We’re adding a new project?”
“Yes,” Janice replied.
Terry drew a deep breath in before continuing.
“My understanding is that our focus should be on giving exceptional service to our customers. I’m concerned that adding another major project will stretch the team to a point where it impacts the service we provide.”
Janice stared at her blankly.
Terry continued. “We currently have two major projects in their implementation phase, two in their design phase, and two in the development phase.”
Janice sighed.
“Terry, I don’t know what to tell you. Business doesn’t slow down, so neither do we.”
Respectfully, Terry tried again.
“Are we sure that pacing ourselves to make sure our service is excellent is the same thing as slowing down?”
“Yes,” Janice replied, her tone growing annoyed. “We have a lot of goals and we’re not going to slow down. We are adding more service offerings, and we will continue to do so.”
Terry knew how this conversation would end, so she made the decision to end it herself. “Ok, I understand. Happy to support whatever projects leadership would like to take on.”
“Thanks Terry,” Janice said. “I knew I could count on you to be a team player.”
Terry left her supervisor’s office with her head spinning.
She wasn’t worried about the work itself. She was worried about what would happen to the team if the pace never slowed.
How would she tell her team that they would be launching another major project?
She knew they were already operating at their maximum capacity.
Why didn’t Janice ever listen to her? Why didn’t she ever ask questions?
As Terry sank into her office chair, she sighed. She knew she had to tell her team: another project, another timeline, another set of expectations.
She wasn’t sure how long they could keep this pace — even with their expertise and drive. And to be honest, she didn’t know how she could either.
If this conversation feels familiar, it’s because versions of it play out in organizations every day.
What often goes unexamined is the way moments like this reveal how leaders pursue growth.
When Ideas Become the Priority
If I asked you to grab a thesaurus and find a synonym for executive, you might find the word “meetings.”
And in our multitude of meetings, we love to talk ideas.
We throw around terms like brainstorming, ideation, partnerships, scale, and growth. We sell our ideas with words like strategy, collaboration, opportunity, and innovation.
As we move from meeting to meeting, many executives develop tunnel vision. Their primary objective slowly narrows to one thing: money.
I know what you’re thinking- “Well…Obviously.”
Of course businesses have to think about money. If we can’t pay our bills, there is no business. If there is no business, there are no jobs.
You’re absolutely right.
But I want to encourage a shift in thinking.
Listening as a Leadership Strategy
I recently spoke with an executive at Coca-Cola who shared a powerful realization their organization had reached.
At just one site, attrition was costing them nearly one million dollars per year.
The repeat cycle of recruiting, hiring, onboarding, and training was quietly eroding the bottom line.
Their learnings led to updated company goals.
The short version of one of those goals was simple:
Take care of our people, and they’ll take care of us.
That care started with asking questions and listening.
What confused or frustrated their team?
What brought their team relief or joy?
What made their team feel more prepared and empowered?
These questions began yielding answers that helped Coca-Cola adjust its programs and processes.
Were there still operational non-negotiables? Absolutely.
Were the targets still ambitious? You bet.
But those expectations were built alongside a commitment to people care.
What struck me most about that conversation was who was sharing this insight.
I wasn’t speaking with a Chief People Officer or a CHRO. I was meeting with the Executive Director of Operational Excellence.
He knew the numbers.
He had the attrition data.
He could clearly explain the challenges they had faced,
He knew the questions they had begun asking their team.
He knew the changes they had made as a result.
What made that conversation even more striking was his own experience within the organization.
He hadn’t arrived at Coca-Cola as an executive. He had started as a temporary employee and worked his way up through the plant over more than a decade. He had worked the long shifts. He had experienced the operational demands firsthand.
There was likely no one in that facility who understood the work more deeply than he did.
And yet even with that level of experience, he still valued what the team had to say.
Many executives assume that caring for people is HR’s responsibility.
That assumption is a fallacy.
The strongest organizations understand that people care is not a departmental initiative. It is a leadership responsibility woven directly into how the business operates.
The Risk Leaders Don’t See
In the example above, leadership viewed their primary goal as generating more business- and in turn, more revenue.
But money at what cost?
Without realizing it, the leadership approach was stretching an already stretched team.
The decision had a high chance of impacting their customer base by diluting the team’s expertise and spreading it across too many priorities.
The decision to add was actually a decision to introduce risk.
Growth is not just about opportunity. It’s also about capacity.
When leaders fail to understand the capacity of their teams, new initiatives can quietly erode the very excellence they’re meant to create.
Growth that ignores capacity rarely produces excellence.
A risk many executives miss is the one created when leaders stop listening to the people closest to the work.
Frontline Feedback
Coca-Cola’s total revenue in 2024/2025 was nearly $48 billion.
They are an undisputed leader in their industry with longevity and brand recognition that rivals almost any other company.
And yet their focus remains simple: provide clarity, consistency, and care to their employees.
Because organizations that take care of their people protect the very thing that makes growth possible.
Terry wasn’t pushing back because she feared growth. She was protecting the team’s ability to deliver excellence.
Many organizations have a Terry- someone close enough to the work to see the strain before the executive team does. Someone who understands the capacity of the team, the expectations of the customer, and the reality of what it takes to deliver well.
Leaders often ask what initiative should come next.
A better question might be this:
Are we listening carefully enough to the people doing the work to ensure our decisions strengthen clarity, consistency, and care across the organization?
At On The Way Enterprises, we help organizations align leadership, systems, and people so growth strengthens the organization rather than stretching it thin.
Because sustainable growth requires more than opportunity- it requires clarity, consistency, and care.
