(Why Revisiting Your Processes Might Be Your Salvation)
The current landscape for many businesses is challenging. Hiring freezes are becoming a
reality for numerous teams, leaving marketing departments stretched thin. With budgets
tightening and the need for innovation rising, the question is: How can marketing teams stay
efficient and continue to drive results without additional headcount? The answer often lies in
an overlooked solution: optimising your processes.
By revisiting and refining your marketing workflows, you can boost productivity, eliminate
waste, and do more with fewer resources. Here’s how you can survive and even thrive during
a hiring freeze by focusing on operational excellence.
1. Re-evaluate Your Existing Processes
Why it’s a problem:
When things get hectic, it’s easy to fall into routine. However, your current workflows may
have grown inefficient over time, leading to unnecessary delays, missed deadlines, and
burnout.
The Fix:
Perform a comprehensive process audit. Map out all major workflows and identify where
bottlenecks are occurring. Is there a redundant approval process? Are there manual steps that
can be automated? By eliminating inefficiencies, you can make every task count.
Ask yourself:
When was the last time you assessed your processes for opportunities to streamline or
automate?
2. Automate Repetitive Tasks
Why it’s a problem:
Marketing teams often spend too much time on repetitive tasks that take away from strategic
work. Whether it’s scheduling social media posts, managing email campaigns, or generating
reports, these time-consuming tasks could be handled more efficiently with automation.
The Fix:
Invest in tools that automate mundane tasks like email marketing, reporting, and content
scheduling. This frees up valuable time for your team to focus on more creative or impactful
work that directly contributes to business growth.
Ask yourself:
What percentage of your daily tasks could be automated to free up time for high-value work?
3. Leverage Project Management Tools to Maximise Efficiency
Why it’s a problem:
Without proper project management tools, teams can become disorganised, leading to missed
deadlines and confusion. This is especially critical when you’re running a lean team during a
hiring freeze.
The Fix:
Adopt a project management tool that helps visualise workloads, allocate resources, and track
deadlines. This ensures that every team member knows their responsibilities and helps eliminate the need for constant check-ins and status update meetings.
Ask yourself:
Are you fully utilising your project management tools? Is the team aligned on how to use
them effectively?
4. Prioritise and Focus on What Matters Most
Why it’s a problem:
When resources are tight, it’s easy to get distracted by low-impact tasks that don’t move the
needle for your business. Without clear priorities, teams may find themselves working on
tasks that could have been delayed or eliminated.
The Fix:
Establish clear goals and prioritise projects that align directly with business objectives.
Introduce an impact vs. effort framework to evaluate incoming requests and focus on the
high-return initiatives. Align your marketing efforts with strategic business needs to ensure
you’re maximising the value of every hour worked.
Ask yourself:
Are your team’s priorities aligned with business goals? Do you have a process to evaluate
new tasks and opportunities?
5. Empower Your Team to Make Decisions
Why it’s a problem:
In lean teams, decision-making bottlenecks can lead to delays and slow down progress. When
decisions have to be escalated for approval, it consumes time that could be spent on
execution.
The Fix:
Empower your team to make decisions within defined parameters. Establish clear guidelines
that allow team members to move forward without waiting for constant approvals. This
autonomy not only speeds up workflows but also boosts team morale.
Ask yourself:
Do your team members feel confident making decisions without constant oversight? Do you
have clear guidelines for decision-making?
6. Standardise and Document Key Processes
Why it’s a problem:
When teams don’t have standardised processes, everyone works differently, which leads to
inconsistency, duplication of effort, and errors. This is especially costly when teams are
already stretched thin.
The Fix:
Document key processes and create standardised operating procedures (SOPs). This ensures
that every team member, new or old, can follow the same workflow and deliver consistent
results. It also ensures smoother onboarding when you eventually expand your team again.
Ask yourself:
Are your processes documented and accessible to everyone? Is there a “gold standard” way
of working that everyone follows?
7. Consolidate Communication Channels
Why it’s a problem:
With most teams working hybrid, communication can become fragmented. Disjointed
channels like emails chains, Slack messages, and project management tools can all create
confusion and miscommunication, leading to delays and inefficiencies.
The Fix:
Streamline communication by consolidating it into one or two key platforms. Establish clear
guidelines for what should be communicated via email versus chat or shared documents. This
keeps your team on the same page and ensures quick decision-making.
Ask yourself:
Are your communication channels clear and efficient? Do you have a process for managing
updates and requests?
Closing Thoughts
While a hiring freeze can be a significant challenge, it’s also an opportunity to evaluate your
team’s processes, eliminate inefficiencies, and optimise your existing resources. By
streamlining workflows, automating tasks, and empowering your team, you can not only
survive the freeze but emerge stronger, more agile, and more productive than before.
Start small: audit one process, automate one task, or document one workflow this week.
Every step you take will make your team more efficient and ensure that you continue to
deliver results, even in the face of adversity.
Need help implementing these optimisations? Start your Operational Excellence journey
with our Ox workshops. Contact us to arrange a 30 minute meeting with Oliver to discuss how your team can benefit.
