Why “time away” working "on the business and not "in the business" is not a luxury, it’s strategic.
- laura3736
- 2 days ago
- 4 min read
Growth-stage companies move fast. When you're running a scaleup backed by investors, the pressure is constant: aggressive sales targets, new product launches, team expansion, board reporting, pipeline forecasting, and the relentless drive for ROI. Add the acceleration of AI and automation, and founders and CEOs are spending more time in dashboards, meetings and operational loops than ever before.
This is the left-brain trap that modern leaders fall into: execution mode, optimisation mode, short-term mode.
But the strategic insight many scaleup leaders are now waking up to is this:
You cannot build a market-leading business from inside the day-to-day. You need time and space away from it.
We’re talking about structured, deliberate time to think, plan and access the creative, right-brain thinking that fuels long-term profitability, innovation and brand differentiation.
For scaleups with ambition (and the budgets to back it), this is no longer a luxury. It’s a necessity.
The Science: Why Leaders Think Better When They Step Away
Multiple studies show that time away from routine tasks increases creativity, cognitive flexibility and problem-solving ability:
A longitudinal study by the University of Groningen found that senior employees report higher creativity after time away than before, suggesting that the brain produces better ideas when removed from habitual task loops.
Research by PMC on workplace breaks shows that regular, intentional pauses rejuvenate mental energy, restore focus and improve creative problem-solving capability.
Harvard Business Review (admittedly talking about having a holiday break!) highlights that stepping away improves clarity, perspective and cognitive sharpness, which leaders bring back into the business.
Scaleup leaders frequently operate in what Microsoft’s research refers to as “hyper-left-brain activation”: endless digital meetings, task switching, dashboards and KPI obsession. This suppresses the right-brain functions essential for:
Innovation
Strategic vision
Brand building
Long-term planning
Insight generation
Cross-functional creativity
In today’s AI-driven environment, where execution is increasingly automated, right-brain thinking becomes a scaleup’s competitive advantage.
Vision Doesn’t Happen in a Spreadsheet
Apple under Steve Jobs remains one of the clearest examples of a company that leveraged divergent, intuitive, right-brain thinking to transform markets. Jobs frequently stepped away from the operational business to explore new ideas, study unrelated interests and create mental space - from calligraphy classes to long walks and meditation. These non-linear experiences directly shaped Apple’s brand, product vision and design philosophy.
Apple’s culture of “idea meritocracy” didn’t emerge from high-pressure tactical sessions. It emerged from time to think, argue, reflect, imagine and iterate. The company’s greatest breakthroughs - the Mac, the iPod, the iPhone - came not from task execution but from creative thinking supported by protected space for exploration.
Fast-growing companies often look to Apple for its innovation culture, but ignore the most important part: Innovation requires space.
Why Scaleups Need This More Than Early-Stage Startups
At seed stage, founders naturally spend time imagining the future. They’re building from zero, vision-first.
But once a company hits revenue traction and investment, everything changes:
Teams expand
Product becomes more complex
Investors demand reporting
Pressure to optimise increases
The organisation moves into “delivery mode”
Left unchecked, the founder or CEO becomes the most operationally constrained person in the company, paradoxically losing the thinking time required to lead the next phase of growth.
Scaleups enter a critical inflexion point: What got them here will not get them to £10m, £20m or £50m+
To reach the next stage, leadership teams must zoom out, rethink positioning, reshape strategy, evolve the brand, develop new propositions and reimagine the customer experience. And none of that thinking can happen between Zoom calls.
The Commercial Logic: Time Away Produces Hard Business Outcomes
When structured correctly, strategic leadership away-days deliver measurable value:
1. Better long-term decisions
Leaders can assess 3–5 year market shifts, customer evolution, competitive threats and innovation opportunities.
2. Stronger brand and positioning clarity
Scaleups often grow so fast their brand becomes inconsistent or unfocused. Creative thinking time helps re-articulate who they are and why they matter.
3. Cross-functional alignment
Teams emerge unified around the same North Star, reducing friction and accelerating execution.
4. Faster innovation cycles
Breakthrough ideas emerge when leaders step out of habitual thinking loops.
5. Increased resilience
A stretched, overwhelmed leadership team becomes reactive. A rested, creative one becomes strategic.
6. Improved organisational culture
Strategic offsites reinforce values, clarity and purpose, critical for companies growing at pace.
This is not fluffy. This is commercial, strategic and directly tied to scaleup valuation.
What “Away Time” Should Look Like for Growth Businesses
At OSER, we run structured SLT away days designed specifically for ambitious scaleups. The most effective strategy days include:
1. A protected environment
Leaders must be physically and mentally removed from the business. No laptops. No Slack. No dashboards.
2. A curated agenda
A structured thinking experience covering:
vision and 3–5 year horizon
brand direction
growth opportunities
positioning
customer insights
category entry points
innovation
3. Divergent + convergent cycles
Divergent thinking (creativity, ideation, “what if?”).Convergent thinking (prioritisation, strategic decision-making). Most scaleups only ever do the latter.
4. Facilitation that challenges leaders
A neutral facilitator helps teams break out of internal assumptions, draw out insights, and make bold decisions.
5. Outcome clarity
The best away days produce fewer ideas - not more - but ideas that matter. They result in:
a sharper narrative
a clearer roadmap
stronger positioning
renewed leadership alignment
practical next steps
In a World of AI and Automation, Space to Think Becomes the Ultimate Differentiator
Scaleups today face a paradox: AI allows businesses to work faster and more efficiently than ever, but it also traps leaders in cycles of constant optimisation.
The companies that will lead the next decade won’t be the ones with the fastest dashboards; they’ll be the ones whose leaders intentionally create space for insight, creativity and long-term thinking. Because execution can now be automated, but vision cannot.
How OSER Helps Scaleups Think Bigger
At OSER, we design structured SLT strategy days and off-sites that help founders and leadership teams:
step away from day-to-day pressure
reconnect with long-term vision
access creative, right-brain thinking
uncover new growth opportunities
refine brand and positioning
plan for sustainable 3–5 year profitability
align the leadership team behind one strategy
We bring the strategic rigour of brand and marketing, the creativity of divergent thinking and the commercial focus that growth businesses require.
If you're scaling fast and want to scale smarter, creating deliberate space to think is no longer optional. It’s your most valuable strategic asset.
If your leadership team needs space to think, align and unlock its next stage of growth, OSER designs and facilitates bespoke strategy retreats for scaleups.
Book a consultation to shape your SLT away-day.
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