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Build the Muscle. Then Be Willing to Break It.

Why scaling through government often feels harder than building the original model.

I often say to leaders, you need to build the muscle.

Your advocacy muscle.
Your fundraising muscle.
Your board muscle.
Your government partnership muscle.

The more you use it, the stronger it becomes.

Recently, during a workout, my on-line trainer said something that stopped me.

“To build muscle, you have to break it down first. And then you have to stretch it, or you will carry the pain.”

It struck me how precisely that describes what happens when you move from growth to scale, particularly when you scale through government systems.

Because at that point, you are not just building something new.

You are breaking down something that already works.

When the Model Works Beautifully… Under Your Control

You have the proof.

Strong outcomes.
Clear unit economics.
Affordability analysis.
Possibly RCTs.
Early champions in government.

You know the model delivers when your team runs it. You control recruitment, training, supervision, culture, incentives, data.

It is tight. High fidelity. High accountability.

And then you decide you want scale.

Not incremental expansion.
​Scale.

Which means designing for systems that are not yours.

Which means aligning to public sector constraints, political cycles, budget lines, procurement rules.

Which means accepting that you will not control every detail.

This is where the muscle fibres tear.

The Pain Leaders Rarely Name

You simplify what was once nuanced.

You strip back elements your team fought hard to include.

You move from high fidelity to “good enough within system constraints.”

You trade:

• Speed for durability
• Fidelity for adaptability
• Visibility for ownership
• Innovation for standardisation

You shift from “we deliver” to “they own.”

And if you are honest, there is loss in that.

Loss of control.
Loss of visibility.
Loss of the clean elegance of a tightly run model.

This is not failure. It is structural change.

But it does not feel comfortable.

Scaling through government is often more painful than leaders admit publicly.

The Discipline of Stretching

There is another part of muscle building that we neglect.

Stretching.

When adoption begins.
When budget lines start to appear.
When your model is embedded in policy.

You need to pause.

Capture the learning.
Clarify what is truly core and what was optional.
Write down the simplified architecture.
Reinforce what “good enough” actually means.
Celebrate progress.

Otherwise you carry tension into the next phase.

Scaling is not one big strategic decision. It is repeated cycles of breaking down and rebuilding stronger.

The leaders who navigate it well are not those who avoid discomfort.

They are those who expect it and design for it.

A Final Reflection

If you are in the middle of letting go of control in order to achieve lasting impact, the ache you feel is not a signal to retreat.

It is a signal that you are doing something structural.

So yes, perhaps I am stretching the analogy too far.

But if you are refining your scale model right now, you will know exactly what I mean.

Where are you building muscle?
And where are you being asked to break something down in order to rebuild it for scale?

Let me know what phase you are in.

Warmly,
​Liz​
​Strategic Advisor | Former CEO | Founder, Volante

Based in Kenya, available globally