A Big Squeeze and Not in a Good Way – Doing More with Less

No one is excited about the idea of doing more with less in 2023. Smaller budgets, fewer people. It feels like a big squeeze and not in a good way. Yet here is where many folks in marketing and sales find themselves coming into the new year. So are you just going to throw up your hands and tell your management to lower their expectations because your can’t get results? I don’t think that is going to be met with a lot of enthusiasm – most likely the answer is going to be?- figure it out. How are you going to do that? I have a few tips and ideas for you. In this series of 5 posts we’ll cover ways you can do more with less and get better results.

Tip 1 – Get your mind right

Don’t spend the first part of the year wishing for what you don’t have and lamenting how great it was when your budget was flush with cash and your team was packed with lots of people. How do you do that?

Own your responsibilities & priorities:

It’s an old book but Seth Godin once wrote “Linchpin” – It’s a great book on how to become irreplaceable. You should focus on getting as close as possible to the most important priorities for your leadership team. Think about the work you’ve been asked to do and consider how crucial it is to helping your team achieve their overarching goals. If you feel like it’s low value – start looking for and asking for additional responsibilities. If you can execute this well, it will give you their trust and make you irreplaceable.

Work your own personal growth:

If you made the mistake over the last couple years of thinking: “I have a job, I have a degree – everyone is hiring – I’m good” — Now would be a perfect time to adjust your thinking. The market is now being flooded with brilliant minds who just so happened to be working at companies who had to do layoffs. A few months ago, the entire tech ecosystem was competing for talent. Today, ?it’s a very different story. This is why building your talents and skills has never been more important. Take that course. Enroll in that program. Read those newsletters. Experiment with those channels. Join those Slack channels. Do the work required to grow as a professional and build relationships.

Manage up the chain:

You need to communicate consistently with your manager & even their manager if you’re in a small enough organization. Send them a weekly update. Let them know your priorities, the blockers you need help with and the things that you’re proud to have accomplished this past week that are helping you get closer to achieving the overarching priority for the quarter. Great thread on this idea here.

Make the most of your personal network:

Right now there are thousands of people scrolling, interacting and learning on channels like LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook about your space. You can join these networks and build relationships that last a lifetime. You can build relationships with your next colleague, next manager or next business partner. If the layoffs do impact you — It’s very likely that the relationships you build will help ensure you’re not out of work long. Experiment with a new channel like Tribel or Mastadon. Play with some new Generative AI Tools.

Adjust your attitude:

The world isn’t great right now. It can be depressing. The news cycle is horrible and doom scrolling has become an ugly pastime for too many. Here’s the thing: I encourage you to try to find some peace and positivity then bringing that energy to your work as much as you possibly can. Do the inner work. If that means therapy, coaches, more sleep, more fitness, more sunlight, better eating, no booze, etc… Do it. Find ways to get to a place mentally where you can bring positivity to the your colleagues and clients. Find ways to be the person who elevates the culture.

At CMD, we know its not an easy time for anyone, and we are here to support our clients and community. In the next tip – we’ll take about getting savvy on marketing diagnostics and putting them to work for you. Questions: just ask [email protected]