Why Managers Can Make or Break a Growth Plan, According to Tom Wood

In a recent LinkedIn post, Tom Wood discusses how managers across a business can help turn a growth plan into action. Reporting on Wood’s post, he describes his focus at Lignum as the company works through its next three-year plan: spending more time with managers and exploring how they can contribute to the company’s direction.

“The people who make or break your growth plan aren’t always the ones who wrote it.”

Turning strategy into action

Wood distinguishes between setting strategy at board level and carrying it out across the business. A plan, in his view, depends on people beyond its original authors understanding the intended direction and feeling confident enough to advance it. His post presents that wider engagement as part of the work of implementation, rather than an automatic result of having a strategy.

“You can have a brilliant strategy at board level, but bringing it to life requires people throughout the business who understand where you’re going and have the confidence to drive it forward.”

According to Wood, that principle is shaping his approach at Lignum. He says he has been meeting individually with managers to discuss their ambitions, the direction they want to take their teams and how they might play a larger role in growth. The post does not specify particular targets or decisions from those conversations, but it emphasizes making room for managers to think beyond their current responsibilities.

Developing leadership potential

Wood identifies managers as a group with considerable capacity to influence the company’s future. As he notes, “There’s a huge amount of potential in that layer of leadership.” His argument is that businesses can support that potential by giving managers greater scope to make decisions and shape their teams, linking individual development with the broader growth plan.

From participation to ownership

In Wood’s view, inviting managers to discuss their ambitions may help them take a more active part in growth. He says he is keen to develop opportunities for people to “think bigger, make decisions and shape the future of their teams.” The emphasis is on giving leaders both the space to contribute and the confidence to act on that contribution.

Wood closes his post by expressing enthusiasm about what the company can achieve together. His message is that growth planning involves more than the people who draft or approve a strategy: it also calls for leaders throughout the business to understand its direction and help shape how it is carried out. These are the themes Wood raises in his LinkedIn post as Lignum works on its next three-year plan.