Shit Breaks in the Middle. When to Replace Your Tactical Organization.

Transformation is always a hot topic. The fact “digital transformation” is still a topic in 2023 blows my mind. But so does calculus. C’est la vie. 

First, why do companies transform anything? Because shit is rarely working beyond the modicum of “functional”. “Functional” is not “working”. “Functional” means that just enough gets done to make something happen. That’s not “working”. 

The transformation we’re talking about today is the transition, evolution, revolution, of anything big getting  changed - specifically a generally philosophical shift - in marketing. Be it a transition to Product Marketing from Integrated Marketing (as a central position) or moving the funnel from events (ie, field marketing) to lead generation, these large transformations occur all the time.  

The point is, something big is happening because things need to change. 

These large transformative moments happen at the Executive Leadership Team (ELT) level - specifically new sales or marketing leadership. Big dogs are brought into fix flagging sales or push the org through to the next level. They are never caretakers, because they’re leaders - and rightly or wrongly, they want to leave their mark and they’ve been tasked with doing big stuff.  

So where does transformation fall apart? It’s in the section of the universe I call “Messy Middle Management” (MMM). And there’s a case to be made for nuking the entire section before working on fundamental change. 

Hear me out. 

First, let’s define MMM. These are your Managers, Directors, etc. -  the middle, and the most influential. They are the translational layer between the ELT and soldiers shooting the rifles. If they haven’t bought in, or are capable of understanding what is needed, your big transformation has already failed. 

And big transformations fail alot. 

Transformations need to be planned and measured, but rarely are because of the chaos that goes on around them. Importantly - they need to be planned and measured to make sure you have the right butts in seats. Marketing fails more often by the people involved than because of the strategy. 

In most transformation scenarios, existing teams are pushed into greater responsibilities and experience domains for which they’re not prepared. And we, as leaders, often give these existing team members the grace and deference to do a job they’re simply not equipped to do, all while suffering through trying to upskill employees who probably don’t want it. 

Well, that’s a problem that can be solved. 

The plan and measurements that should be instituted result in one of two rapid outcomes:

People are pushed into new areas and equip themselves quickly with the tactical skills to support the changing nature of their marketing department. 

Or 

They run home to mama, do what they’ve always done, and should be axed. 

My recommendation: One month into the plan, nuke everyone that hasn’t shown they’re a raging cheerleader for the new approaches. 

Nuke all of them. 

Some might say you’re losing institutional knowledge. I say you’re losing bad habits. 

Some say you’re not inspiring high morale. I say if people aren’t moving toward transformation goals and objectives, their morale is already in the pooper and they may be dragging the rest of the org down. 

Some say you’re not giving them a chance to grow. I say you set the bar, and a good leader wants everyone to move as quickly as the fastest person, not the slowest. 

Let’s look at a hypothetical… 

If you have an organization that’s been relying on one specific approach to generate lead volume, let’s say “field marketing”, you no longer have a strategic organization. You have a tactical organization. 

And that’s fine. As long as that’s all you’re ever going to do. Because you’re consistently training and re-training to be a field marketing support organization. Not a strategic marketing organization. But if you need to move to something more strategic, you’re going to find alot of people scratching their heads at their new jobs. 

Second, let’s define “nuking the entire layer”. The reality is when change is suggested, it’s scary. And it’s mostly scary to the people who’ve been seeing their measures of success measured against one very narrow tactic. And they may not want or know how to change. 

So you should probably fire them. 

Because you’re relying on them to get the change made - because real change happens with the MMM. And you’re not going to be able to micromanage it. If they don’t (objectively) pass that rapid test, save yourself the time of having to retrain people who don’t really want to be retrained, and hire the right skills. 

I recently worked with an organization that lived in two silos - field marketing and product marketing. The entire marketing team was focused solely on fulfillment, completing tasks built around  a sales philosophy focused solely on transactions. It made everything (for marketing and sales) a question of task, and not strategy.  

A huge change initiative was begun to shift the organization by eliminating silos. By changing the mission of the organization from “fulfillment” to “leadership” - in short to turn the marketing team from a cost center to a revenue attribution center. 

The problem was, the organization was way too nice. They moved all of the people from their previous competencies into new roles. Alas, few had zero competency in those roles on Day 1 and on Day 180 they had reverted back to just doing fulfillment work. 

Expecting incompetent people to become competent is a great definition of failure.
As expected, the transformation failed - miserably. Principally because the MMM failed to change and lead their teams into a brighter future. 

Sometimes it’s worthwhile to not see what someone is capable of, instead bring in the right skills and experience to get the job done.  

Are you getting ready to do a huge organizational change? Philosophically deciding to move to a different approach? Talk to someone outside of the organization to help you see the bumps and bruises and who isn’t personally invested. Truth speaks louder than failure. 

*Required plug.

We’re your Nero Hero - we’ll help you burn that shit down and start over with a succinct transition plan and core tenets for the organization. See who’s on your team and who just wants to go back to what the job was on Day 1. It may take a day. Maybe a month - but plan on seeing organizational change that may not be nice, but is successful.