The team burned out at full speed and produced no profit. Half of the work was leading nowhere.
+186%profit growth rate the very next month
IndustryOnline services
Revenue€4-5M
FormatProject and retainer
TeamPartner, operations lead
Situation
Online services, €4-5M revenue. From outside it was full load: team working hard, marketing not sleeping. From inside: rising burnout, the marketing department asked for reinforcements. But one detail didn't fit: tons of work was being done, and profit stood still. If the team were really loaded with productive tasks, profit should have moved at least slightly.
What we did
- Broke down the team's work using a systemic approach: subject, object, process
- Separated actions affecting financial result from «anti-system» activity wasting resource
- Made it clear to every person which exact tasks they own and how they map to outcome
- Removed or redesigned tasks leading nowhere
- Rolled out a KPI system tied to financial result
Result
P&L profit growth rate+186% the next month
StabilityProfit held at the new level
TeamSame: no new hires, no payroll growth
TensionDropped: people saw the result of their work
A loaded team and a productive team aren't the same. The difference comes from clarity, not headcount.
A 42.finance principle