In today’s fast-moving business landscape, it’s a common scenario: you have the same ambitious goals and tight deadlines as before, but with fewer team members and tighter budgets than ever. Layoffs, budget cuts, and exhausted teams are a reality for many leaders, from CEOs to VPs of People. So, how do you achieve ambitious targets when resources are constrained? Claire Lew, CEO of Know Your Team (now Canopy), shares a powerful framework developed from over a decade of working with tens of thousands of people.
The core idea? It’s not about just piling on more work. It’s about being strategic, intentional, and empowering your team.
Here are seven practical steps to help your organization thrive in resource-constrained environments:
1. Question What “More” Really Means
We all want to do “more” – more customers, more revenue, better products. But what does “more” specifically mean for your business right now? Claire stresses the need to identify one right thing – be it revenue, customer acquisition, or product improvement. Once you’ve identified this, the crucial next step is to prioritize speed as the primary way to achieve it.
- Take an “Activities Inventory”: List all current projects and honestly assess how much they contribute to your one right thing, and how quickly. You’ll likely find projects that are exciting, personally preferred, or just “good at” but don’t align with your core focus or speed goal.
- Be Prepared to Cut or Pause: The physics don’t balance if you have fewer resources but don’t cut projects. Be proactive about making space for actual progress by stopping or postponing non-essential work.
2. Take an “On-the-Ground Pulse Check” (Before You Announce Changes)
Before rolling out new strategies or ideas, understand your team’s current state. Are they tired, overworked, disillusioned, or worried? Ignoring this leads to “idea whiplash” and eye rolls, as new initiatives will be met with resistance rather than enthusiasm.
- Ask Your Leadership Team: “What level of confidence do you have that we are actually focused on the right things as an organization?”. This reveals their openness to new frameworks and support for change.
- Ask Your Front Line Leaders: “Is there anything you’ve actually been worried about that you think is starting to become true of our team?”. This uncovers potential resistance or fear of change within their teams.
- Ask Your Employees: “What’s felt most uncertain about the company to you lately?”. This signals that you’re aware of challenges and not tone-deaf, building trust.
3. Describe the “Change in the Wind” Clearly
When introducing a new “one right thing” or a new strategy, it’s not enough to simply say what is changing and why. You need to “describe the change in the wind” by providing a fuller picture:
- Where it’s Coming From: Explain the research, analysis, or new information that led to this decision.
- Where it’s Going: Connect the change to the long-term vision and what success will look like in the future.
- How it Impacts Day-to-Day: Explicitly detail how this will affect your team’s workload, meetings, communication, and operational flow. This helps people truly get on board, rather than just reacting to a directive.
4. Take a Second “On-the-Ground Pulse Check” (After You Announce Changes)
This is often the most missed step. After announcing the new direction, circle back to see how the changes have actually landed and how people are feeling. This helps you recalibrate and update your understanding of the situation.
- To Your Leadership Team: “What else is it that I’m not seeing that we can, in fact, eliminate and cut based off this new focus?”. This drives discipline throughout the organization.
- To Your Front Line Managers: Ask them what they anticipate will be blockers for progress. Their insights are crucial for identifying potential hurdles and re-arranging priorities.
- To Your Direct Employees: “What is, in fact, truly changing?”. This helps you update your assumptions about how the changes are being perceived and implemented on the ground.
5. Focus on “F&F”: Feedback & Frameworks in Execution
When it comes to executing new strategies, don’t just give directives. To increase velocity and achieve goals with fewer resources, you need:
- Frameworks: Provide underlying principles, methodologies, and repeatable systems. This enables your team to operate independently without constant reliance on you. Instead of “just do this,” explain the “how” and “why” behind the approach.
- Contextual Feedback: When giving feedback, explain the back thinking behind your suggestions. Don’t just say “not good enough” or “do it faster.” Explain why certain details matter or how they fit into the bigger business picture and company goals. This helps prevent repeated mistakes and deepens understanding.
6. Scale the Mindset by Leveling Up Your Leaders
You cannot be the sole driver of change. To truly “do more with less,” you need to empower and level up your managers to take ownership of these practices. Focus on five key areas for their development:
- Manager Mindset Shift: Teach them that a manager’s success isn’t about their work getting done, but about enabling their team to get the work done.
- Effective 1:1s: Equip them to have meaningful one-on-one conversations and ask critical questions to their own teams.
- Giving & Receiving Feedback: Train them to provide contextual feedback, linking it to company goals and strategies.
- Communicating Vision: Enable them to articulate the company’s vision and where it’s going, beyond their immediate team.
- Coaching: Help them develop coaching skills to guide their team members effectively.
7. Implement a “Self-Check” (The Power of Pausing)
In the constant pressure to move faster, it’s easy to get caught in a “frenzy”. Claire emphasizes that there is real power in pausing. As the Navy Seals say, “Slow is smooth, smooth is fast”.
- Regular Reflection: Take time to question your assumptions, assess your projects, and ensure your pace is realistic. This allows you to proactively make space for progress.
- Equip Your Leaders: Use this pause to strategize how you can better equip your leaders to help you.
By slowing down, asking critical questions, and empowering your team, you’ll find that things become smoother and move faster, allowing you to achieve ambitious goals even with limited resources.
This article draws on excerpts from Claire Lew‘s talk, “Doing More with Less“, at Business of Software Conference.