As your business grows, your role changes.

When it was just you, giving feedback directly was fast and effective. Once managers are in place, skip-level feedback creates confusion, erodes trust, and slows execution, even when your intentions are good.

In this episode, Melissa breaks down why bypassing managers undermines performance and how to cascade feedback without losing control.

This isn’t about stepping back from leadership. It’s about evolving how communication flows so managers can actually manage and your organization can mature.

You’ll learn:

• The hidden costs of skip-level feedback
• Why performance issues are often operating model problems
• How confused priorities and trust erosion happen
• What cascading feedback should look like
• The key questions owners must start asking
• What to stop doing immediately as your team grows

When feedback flows through the right layer:

• Visibility improves
• Accountability is clear
• Decision-making gets stronger

If you don’t trust your managers to manage, the structure is cosmetic, not functional.

Listen in to learn how to lead at scale without creating chaos.

If you want help setting up an organizational design that can function with independence, let's talk it through. Book a call at https://www.melissafranks.com/fractionalcooservices

Connect with Melissa:

Watch the Episodes on Youtube

Instagram: instagram.com/melissa_franks

Schedule a call: melissafranks.com

Most business owners set revenue goals every year, very few define how their business will actually support them.

In this episode of The Opt-In Podcast, Melissa Franks explains why revenue-only goals are one of the most common ways small businesses create chaos. Teams hustle harder instead of smarter. Marketing and operations fall out of sync. Margins shrink. Leaders become bottlenecks.

Revenue isn’t the problem. Incomplete goals are.

Melissa breaks down why revenue is an outcome, not a plan, and introduces the operational targets that keep growth sustainable. You’ll learn how to set clear capacity limits, delivery constraints, margin requirements, and guardrails that help your team make better decisions without constant oversight.

If your business feels reactive, overwhelmed, or harder to run as revenue grows, this episode will help you understand why, and how to fix it.

Revenue is a result. Operations are the strategy.

If you are struggling to identify your operational targets, book a call today with On Call COO, we can help you figure out what the biggest priorities are any how to measure success.

https//www.melissafranks.com/fractionalcooservices

Connect with Melissa:

Watch the Episodes on Youtube

Instagram: instagram.com/melissa_franks

Schedule a call: melissafranks.com

As teams grow, the way work gets done has to change.

What worked in a small, scrappy business starts to break once multiple layers, managers, and priorities appear. Employees feel overwhelmed, managers lose visibility, and execution slows down, not because people aren’t capable, but because communication hasn’t evolved.

In this episode, Melissa speaks directly to employees and middle managers about a critical skill growing teams must learn: managing up.

Managing up isn’t pushback or resistance. It’s a communication framework that helps teams clarify priorities, manage capacity, and deliver better results without burnout.

You’ll learn why “just do what you’re asked” stops working, how to synthesize feedback and requests, and a practical managing up framework you can use immediately.

This episode sets the foundation for next week’s conversation on what owners and leaders must change so managing up actually works.

If you're business is growing and you are ready for some outside input, schedule a call with us at https://www.melissafranks.com/fractionalcooservices

Connect with Melissa:

Watch the Episodes on Youtube

Instagram: instagram.com/melissa_franks

Schedule a call: melissafranks.com