In the early days of my career, being inefficient was practically a job requirement. I was a "New Media Producer" at a startup, which meant doing everything from writing to Flash animation to herding talent like a caffeinated wrangler. I was learning it all on the job, and so was everyone else. Chaos reigned, but so did curiosity, learning, and collaboration.
Fast forward a decade, and I found myself managing projects in one of the best web studios in the world. That experience taught me something entirely different about inefficiency: not the messy, exciting inefficiency of a startup, but the slow, bureaucratic kind that creeps into every meeting and deliverable. I saw the cost of wasted time, and I saw the consequences of gutting teams in the name of getting lean. I watched as leaders removed UX from the equation overnight—"Everyone is UX now!" they declared, as if that were a strategy. Spoiler: it wasn’t.
It was forced efficiency. And it nearly broke the team.
What is forced efficiency, really?
Forced efficiency is what happens when leadership decides that getting lean means eliminating people and processes without fully understanding their impact. It’s a knee-jerk reaction disguised as strategy. Instead of re-evaluating how work is done and who’s doing it, leaders start from the bottom line and cut upward. Heads roll. Budgets shrink. Job titles vanish. And somehow, the expectation is that the work will continue—seamlessly, magically, as if nothing changed.
You’ve probably seen this show before. It looks like:
- Entire departments being consolidated under vague new titles.
- Senior roles eliminated with the assumption that "we can just figure it out."
- Leaders removing process layers without considering who benefits from or depends on them.
- An urgent need to do more with less—without guidance, planning, or clarity.
Sometimes, though, forced efficiency is necessary. It’s not always a sign of bad leadership. It can be a critical survival move in the face of financial strain, market shifts, or organizational crises. The problem isn’t the need to change—it’s how that change is handled. The best outcomes happen when leaders anticipate change, communicate clearly, and create structure to help their people adapt.
Efficiency isn’t a scalpel. It’s a system.
Too many leaders—let's name names, Elon—treat efficiency like a Band-Aid: rip it off fast, let the pain fade, and expect things to just... work. That’s not a strategy. That’s panic dressed up as decisiveness.
Yes, we’re all operating in a tighter world. Budgets are shrinking, and expectations are growing. But cutting roles and consolidating departments without a plan for what comes next doesn’t create efficiency—it creates confusion, burnout, and declining quality.
As I wrote in my article on the fallout from Elon’s government-killing DOGE obsession, when you remove the people who actually do the work, what’s left behind isn’t a lean machine—it’s a skeleton crew scrambling to figure out who’s doing what, and why.
It’s chaos with a new org chart.
The real cost of cuts no one talks about
The people left behind after a wave of forced efficiency aren’t lucky—they’re overwhelmed. They're expected to carry on business as usual without the resources or support that once made their work possible. Morale tanks. Trust in leadership evaporates. Productivity slows, not because people aren’t trying, but because they’re operating in the dark.
The research backs this up:
A study by the Brandon Hall Group found that 59% of organizations saw a major drop in morale after layoffs, and 47% reported a significant loss of trust and loyalty. NectarHR reports that 65% of employees at companies with recent layoffs fear they’ll be next, compared to only 24% at companies without cuts. According to the Institute for Employment Studies, productivity almost always takes a hit post-layoff, due to confusion, lack of direction, and plain old burnout.
So while leadership may be patting themselves on the back for improving the balance sheet, the remaining team is just trying to keep the wheels from falling off.
What smart leaders do when forced to get lean
If you’re facing the pressure to become more efficient—or you sense it’s coming—your instinct may be to act fast. But sustainable efficiency isn’t about speed. It’s about intention.
Before you make changes, get clear on what you’re trying to achieve. Efficiency is an outcome of thoughtful design, not reactive decision-making. Start by establishing a baseline understanding of how your teams operate. Clarify your priorities. Identify where you need to improve—not just in budget lines, but in how people work together.
This kind of operational clarity doesn’t happen overnight. It unfolds across a timeline of awareness, exploration, and improvement. Here's how to think about your leadership in phases—from the first day to the first year:
- Day one: acknowledge and align — Start with acknowledgment. Day one of any big shift should not be business as usual. It should be a moment of honesty and humanity. Let your team know what’s happening and why. Don’t sugarcoat it, and don’t pretend everything is fine. Transparency builds trust—even if the message is tough.
Give people space to respond, ask questions, and process. Make it clear that the changes are about survival or sustainability, not punishment. Show them there’s a plan—even if it’s not all figured out yet. - Week one: evaluate and engage — In the first week, resist the urge to jump straight into new org charts or process overhauls. Instead, take stock. Look at your operations from the inside out. Where are the breakdowns in communication? Which processes are bloated or misaligned? Which roles are unclear or duplicative?
This is the time to:- Map your team’s workflows from the perspective of those doing the work.
- Identify what’s truly essential and what can be paused or phased out.
- Involve your team in the evaluation. Ask what’s working, what’s not, and where they see opportunities.
- Month one: clarify and rebuild — By the end of the first month, your goal should be a clear, realistic plan for moving forward. You’re not rebuilding the plane mid-flight—you’re identifying which parts need maintenance, which need upgrades, and which need to be retired.
Use what you’ve learned to:- Prioritize improvements using SMART goals aligned with business objectives.
- Set expectations around new roles, responsibilities, and collaboration patterns.
- Roll out changes in small, testable phases. Don’t try to fix everything at once.
Keep communication open, ask for feedback, and adjust your plan based on what’s working and what isn’t.
- Year one: optimize and evolve — Forced efficiency doesn’t stop after a quarter. The ripple effects carry through the year—and so should your leadership.
Over the course of the year:- Revisit your operating frameworks regularly. Are they helping or hindering?
- Continue to gather feedback, measure progress, and refine practices.
- Celebrate wins—however small. Morale is a muscle, and it needs regular strengthening.
Most importantly, remember that efficiency isn’t about trimming the fat until nothing remains. It’s about building a team that knows how to move with purpose, clarity, and care. That takes time, structure, and commitment.
T L ; D R — Forced efficiency is leadership theater. Real efficiency takes work.
You can’t cut your way to greatness. But you can:
- Acknowledge change with honesty and empathy
- Evaluate how work gets done before changing who does it
- Co-create solutions with the people closest to the work
- Prioritize sustainable improvements over performative ones
- Continue to evolve your systems over time—not just in a crisis
The teams that thrive in leaner times are the ones that operate from clear frameworks, communicate with intention, and build trust through action—not reaction.
