Is your leadership fuelling growth or holding your business back?

THE Geelong Chamber of Commerce is seeing something important and thinks you need to hear it.

Across Geelong, businesses from every sector are putting their operations under the microscope through the Business Health Check. The results are revealing.

This diagnostic uses a globally recognised framework to measure 11 critical internal and external factors that drive business success: processes, expertise, objectives, performance, market, customer, leadership, attract, heart, engagement and technology.

And while many local businesses are showing strength in areas like customer relationships, ambition and values, a clear pattern has emerged.

Leadership is where the wheels are wobbling.

For many leaders, this realisation lands hard.

Take Julia, who runs a financial services business here in Geelong. On paper, her business was solid. With reliable clients, capable staff, and steady growth.

But when Julia completed the Business Health Check, the free report revealed their leadership scores were worryingly low.

The data uncovered three root causes: effectiveness, capability and alignment. For Julia, decision-making was slow and cautious, motivation was inconsistent, and transparency patchy.

This gap in business is common. Some leaders are technically excellent but lack coaching, strategic thinking or change-management experience.

For Julia, her leaders weren’t aligned, the sales staff pushed for speed, operations for precision, HR for wellbeing; all rowing hard, but in different directions.

Julia summed it up perfectly: “We weren’t failing, we just weren’t leading.”

Why does this matter? The flow of customer-owned data confirms what most feel instinctively: leadership is the lever that moves everything else.

Strong leaders drive strategy, performance, engagement, and innovation. Misaligned or underpowered leadership quietly erodes them all.

The good news? Once identified, it’s fixable. Businesses that use the Health Check to target gaps are already seeing faster decisions, clearer direction, and stronger team morale. They are identifying where they are strong, and where they need to focus.

For ambitious Geelong businesses, the message is clear: before you chase the next growth milestone, ask the hardest questions first and find the data you need.

What would be possible if you better understood the health of your business? But more importantly, what will happen if you don’t?

Any business can access Geelong Chamber’s free Business Health Check by heading to geelongchamber.com.au

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